Red Like Hearts
by DTDTron
Summary: Sora's missing but where could he have gone to? With his powers severely weakened after succumbing to darkness, Sora fights his way to Beacon Academy and cuts a small place for himself among a bunch of new friends. Things are nice and friendly here in Beacon but Sora has to find a way to save this world from the heartless and the mysterious enemy called Grimm. It's gonna be tough.
1. Chapter 1

A Hero's Luck

His failure to become a master left Sora feeling upset. _Sigh...I was so sure I'd make it too. At least Riku passed though and it's not like I only get one shot at it!_ _There's something wrong with me however...I feel weaker. Succumbing to the darkness has definitely left it's mark on me; I just hope it doesn't last long._ Currently, he was in the Traverse Town square next to the mail delivery box.

Sora pushed aside his worries for the moment as he needed to focus on creating a gateway back to the Tower. He enjoyed his brief time with his Dream Eaters but now he needed to get back and figure out what the plan of attack was. _One Xehanort was bad enough but 13! It was bad enough learning Ansem was just a heartless. When will this end!?_

The fast paced sound of heels snapping on brick caught Sora's attention. _Is someone running to me?_ He turned in time to see a Black Hooded figure firmly grab onto his hood and Sora was quickly forced to get intimate with the ground.

"THE ORGANIZA-"

Sora didn't get to finish his sentence as searing pain filled him. Each second he felt more and more of his strength leave him and quickly get replaced by panic. He struggled uselessly against his assailants grip and he felt himself drifting away from consciousness until he was suddenly thrown out to the side. On shaking legs, Sora managed to stand up but before he could say anything the Hooded figure spoke.

"It seems I was right. My vessel has returned but this time with no one to help save him."

"Your Xehanort aren't you!" Sora exclaimed. "If it's a fight you want I'll gladly give it to you!"

Xehanort removed his hood and stared. "You're barely hanging on to consciousness. A fight will get me no benefit either so I'll just take you back to the realm of darkness where I can properly finish the heart transfer."

Panic filled Sora. _He's right...I won't be able to fight him like this. I've tried casting cure but whatever he did drained me of my magic. I need to get out of here! Here goes..._ Sora suddenly thrust his keyblade into the ground and created a portal to another world. He fell through but with no time to focus on his destination, Sora was effectively lost.

"Well here's hoping I land somewhere familiar"

The portal opened up and he kissed the green grass below him.

* * *

Xehanort cursed; he'd been so close to getting his hands on him. _The others won't be pleased but maybe we'll be able to track him down. No matter, He's out of the way for now and weaker than ever. The energy I took from him will ensure he won't be able to get back anytime soon and his meddlesome friends will have as much trouble finding him as we will._ With that in mind, Xehanort opened a portal of darkness and made his way back home. It was a gamble to stay longer than he should have but what was a plan without risk?

"It's time I got back to my home. Eraqus and I have another chess match to play."

* * *

Riku and Kairi arrived at Yen Sid's tower. Donald and Goofy were sitting on the front steps as they approached.

"Hey where's Sora?" Riku asked.

Donald replied, "He said he had something important to do and left. We've been waiting for hours but he still hasn't come back yet."

"He's probably fine. Takes a lot to take someone like Sora out" Kairi said. "Though I was hoping to talk with him before going to see Yen Sid."

"Awww he probably won't be much longer." Goofy said. "He's probably headed back already and is just taking his time."

"I wouldn't be surprised if he was taking a nap somewhere." Riku said "That bum is always sleeping comfortably one way or another."

Kairi laughed, "Hahaha you're probably right Riku. Come on let's go see what Master Yen Sid has to tell us, then we can go mess with Sora when he gets back."

* * *

The throbbing pain in his head is what woke Sora up. Bleary eyed and just a little dizzy, Sora stood up in an unfamiliar forest. _Must have knocked out when I got here. How long was I laying there?_ Sora tried casting cure and to his relief it worked; his agony replaced with calm satisfaction. _Long enough for my magic to come back apparently...seriously what did he do to me and more importantly where am I?_

Around him were tall trees with thick green leaves. The air smelled of pine and the sounds of scattered birds filled the air. Not much more noise except the odd rustle or two he noted. _It's not too bad here I guess but I have to get back to Yen Sid's fast. He's gonna want to hear about this_. Sora materialised his keyblade once more and concentrated on creating a portal.

It didn't work.

"What! Why isn't it working?"

He tried again but he didn't feel any of the familiar energy forming into a corridor.

"I got here through a portal so why can't I get out!" Silence answered him and after a few more tries Sora decided it was enough.

 _Guess I get to explore the place after all. Which way though?_ There were no clear paths anywhere so Sora decided to just head straight and hope for the best.

* * *

 **Hey everyone! First Time writer and hoping I'm doing an okay job. Really short opening chapter but I'm planning on having bigger word counts after I get the story set up. As it stand this chapter is about 1k words.**

 **For you shippers out there, I will have ships present but I won't say who. I'm trying to just have them come about slowly with actions, dialogue, and inner monologues. I'm not a big fan of the "Hi! I'm person A." "Person B blushes furiously" Although if you're really curious just pm me and I'll tell you what you want to know.**

 **So tell me what you liked, hated, think needs work! Reviews are greatly appreciated and as a beginner I feel like they'll really help me improve too so review often please! If you want me to reply to your comment please pm me...although I will not give spoilers on what's to come.**

 **Next chapter will have our hero face off against Grimm and set him on a path to glory! Well...maybe not glory.**


	2. Chapter 2

Just what is this place

After an hour of walking, Sora decided he hated it here. _Everything looks the same aside from some scattered ruins...do people just not live here anymore? It can't be a world like the Pride Lands otherwise my clothes would have changed my form when I got here. I can't seem to find anyone either; The last time I got lost in the woods I at least had Tarzan with me._

"IS ANYONE OUT HERE!"

The shaking bushes behind him had Sora feeling optimistic for once but that feeling died quickly when he noticed a heartless jump out at him. It was in the shape of a massive bipedal wolf and had white bone fragments covering its head; Sora had never seen one like it before but different worlds always did have their own local varieties. Except...no he wasn't sure if it was a heartless...it might have been all black but it's eyes were a burning red.

"Just what are you?"

It answered with a lunge and Sora was forced to roll away. _Doesn't matter what it is I guess. If it tries to hurt people on site then I'm gonna have to take care of it before it can hurt anyone._ He was in clearing thankfully so he had plenty of room to maneuver. There were a few broken pillars to his left but otherwise he was surrounded by trees and bushes.

Not wasting anymore time and Keyblade in hand, Sora ran towards the creature and sliced across an arm. It answered with a bite to his head but Sora quickly smacked it away before it could snap shut. While it was disoriented, Sora then quickly stabbed at the beast in the chest and that seemed to be enough. _It's dissipating into darkness but a heart wasn't released? I'm sure it's a creature of darkness but there were neither heartless markings nor the glowing yellow eyes. Its faded away though cou-_

More rustling surrounded him and Sora quickly learned that these creatures like to travel in packs. _Things are never easy are they...There's about eight of them and I don't want to get surrounded. I'll take out a few with magic and work from there._

"Fire!" Nothing happened.

 _Don't tell me I'm STILL drained! How lo-._ Claws across his back punished Sora's inattention but thankfully the magic of his clothing was still holding. _Right. Focus on the enemy right now._ While he was distracted, the creatures were able to completely surround Sora so his first instinct was to take out the slightly bigger one in front of him, but when Keyblade met claws, Sora was pushed back from the force of the exchange. A beast on his right took the opportunity to lunge but a roll to it's side and subsequent slash across its midsection ended that fight. _Well they aren't all as tough as the big one there._

Sora looked behind him and saw two more creatures reach out to him with claws extended. Sora ducked under and behind them while delivering swift strikes to each of their backs. One fell and started to fade but the other looked as healthy as ever. _Alright 6 left, they aren't too tough and while my magic is gone my keyblade skills are just fine._ Sora decided to focus the creature he injured and was satisfied to see his horizontal slash bisect it. _5._

The big one from before loomed over him and Sora noticed the other 4 trying to encircle him again. Not wanting to waste more time, Sora quickly ran at the creature in front and made to slice it from top to bottom. It blocked him and made to send him away again but instead Sora twisted his body forward so that he was sent up and over the creature instead. Once on the other side, Sora went into a flurry of left and right slashes that not only cut off the creature's legs but his right arm as well. _Alright now there's only 4 small ones left._

They proved to be much easier to handle.

The first tried to take him on with a slash from it's left arm but Sora blocked it and rolled with the hit. Now beneath the beast's guard, Sora plunged his Keyblade into it's chest and saw signs of it fading. The last three all lunged at once and Sora jumped back away from them. All three tried to keep a flurry of slashes going but as soon as one overextended, Sora smacked the arm into his friends and they fell over each other. With one running slash, he cut all three into nothingness.

"I did it! But now where should I go?" _The cliff over there would help me see if there's anything close by…_

With a direction in mind, Sora made his way through the forest once more.

* * *

"Glynda? Can you come over and see this?"

Headmaster Ozpin sat in his office with his ever present mug. Usually he wouldn't look at the Emerald Forest camera's but a huge energy spike reading and the sudden appearance of a teenage boy had him watching them studiously.

"What's wrong Ozpin?" asked Glynda. She was next to the desk now and Ozpin put on a replay of the mysterious boys performance against a group of Beowolves.

Ozpin waited a moment as she took in all the details.

She spoke a moment later "He's skilled but he's certainly not one of our students. His clothes and weapon are unlike any I've ever seen too. While unusually shaped weapons aren't rare for a huntsman, I don't know of any that can disappear and reappear at will."

Ozpin replied, "He also appears to be lost. Prep a bullhead to pick him up at the cliff he's headed to and bring him to my office upon arrival. I have some questions."

"Right away Headmaster. I'll see to him myself" replied Glynda.

As she walked out of his office Ozpin once again looked to the monitor on his desk. _Does he work for someone? Salem maybe? No...this doesn't feel like something she'd do but just what was that portal? It wasn't anything like the portals Ms. Branwen would often use and he didn't seem to be a willing participant if his momentary unconsciousness was any indication. I suppose I'll just have to wait._

* * *

The climb up was tough. Sora had encountered a few more groups of those black creatures on the way over but nothing too bad. _The pig shaped ones were certainly tougher with all that armor. Took me a while to realize they had soft spots underneath. How much longer till i get to the top anyway!_

 _Five more minutes apparently._ Now at the top, Sora had a view of the whole Forest. A wide expanse of beautiful green as far as he could see and when he turned around he noticed what looked like a weird gummi ship head his way.

Sora called out waving his arms, "HEYYY! A little help over here!"

Thankfully the ship made it's descent a few feet away from him and landed with a satisfying hiss. Out of it stepped a stern looking Blonde woman with a riding crop in hand. Sora's smile drooped a little under her strong stare but he was relieved nonetheless. "Finally someone who isn't a monster! I'm Sora and you are?"

The woman seemed to pause for a second but said "I'm Glynda Goodwitch and you are to come with me to Beacon Academy." Her frown gave him pause and Glynda suddenly didn't seem all that friendly. With Sora's skepticism in plain view on his face Glynda continued, "the headmaster has some questions as to why you are in the Emerald Forest. We normally have students go into the woods to train but _you_ are not one of them so please come with me to Beacon Academy."

Sora looked confused for a second but eventually sighed loudly and said, "It's a long story but sure, I'll go with you."

Sora stepped into the bullhead and sat himself on an empty bench across Glynda. She didn't prompt any questions and Sora had to make do by looking over the cabin. _It's no gummi ship but it looks safe enough. What are Riku and the other's up to? I wonder if they even realize I've taken too long? I'm sure Master Yen Sid would have some way to find me but how long will it take? I'm just gonna have to go to this Beacon place and answer their questions first then I'll focus on finding a way back. My magic isn't working though and I might be here a while. AAGH and Xehanort is still out there! The princesses need our help! Kairi needs my help!_ Digging into his pocket, Sora pulled out the wayfinder charm Kairi had given him and stared at it for a few moments. _I'll make it back...it just might take a while._

With that in mind, Sora laid down with one arm behind him and the other holding the wayfinder to his chest. He caught a glimpse of the sun dipping below the horizon and became acutely aware of how tired he felt. _Guess it's already been a day but...at least the Sunset's….the same. It won't hurt...to shut my eyes for a-_

* * *

 _I guess he's finally had enough_ Glynda mused. _Anyone certainly would if they'd been fighting through the Emerald forest for 4 hours. He also arrived unconscious….I wonder why._ Now that he was asleep, Glynda was able to better study Sora's features. _Light brown spiky hair, pouches and pouches containing who knows what, and do those shoes even fit him properly!?_ _WHAT SIZE FEET DOES HE HAVE!?_ She was caught off guard by a detail she wasn't expecting though; Sora appeared to be smiling in his sleep. _He's smiling so contently...alone, starving, and fighting grimm but he can smile not two minutes later with no worries? Goodness he doesn't even know who we are if his confusion to the name Beacon is any indication and yet there he is sleeping without a care in the world. Does this mean he's so arrogant as to believe he could easily deal with us or is he simply that trusting?_

Glynda looked towards the unfamiliar star charm in his hand and pondered on it's importance. _Probably something from his home...it kind of loo-_

A scratchy voice over the intercom sounded. "We're approaching Beacon m'am. ETA 2 minutes. Do you need anything upon arrival?"

Glynda was about to answer no but one quick look to the blissfully unaware Sora and she thought better of it. "Get me a small gurney and a man to push it." _Ozpin wanted to talk to him upon his arrival but Sora doesn't seem like a menace._ Despite him appearing randomly in the forest and his unknown nature, Sora didn't strike Glynda as especially dangerous to other people. For all intents and purposes that might have been a clear danger in of itself. You were after all the most vulnerable when relaxed but Sora made her feel just that, relaxed. _We can grill him for information later but right now he's a tired and hungry teenager. I'm sure Ozpin will understand._

The bullhead landed and the gurney Glynda asked for was already present. She lifted Sora gently from his position and placed him atop with the same care. _He's holding onto that charm rather strongly._

She ordered the men to find a bed for Sora in the infirmary as she contacted Ozpin through her Scroll. His bright face was shown moments later.

"Glynda, I'm glad to see your here. What of our strange guest?" said Ozpin.

"He says his name is Sora and I've decided to let him sleep in one of the infirmary's beds for now. I know you wanted to speak to him as soon as we got here but he fell asleep almost immediately after we got on. I'm sure he'll give us better answers when he isn't half awake." said Glynda.

Ozpin gave a gentle smile and said "I'm sure he will. Until he does I'd like you to tell me what you think of him; you always were a good judge of character."

* * *

Donald and Goofy were starting to worry. Sora said he'd might take a few hours, half a day at most, but it had been two days since they last saw him. It was time to ask Master Yen Sid for help.

"Master Yen Sid. We're worried about Sora." said Donald.

"And why? Do you think he might be in trouble?" said Yen Sid

Goofy stepped in, "It's just...he said he would be back by now. Sora said he had to go do somethin important and left back to the dream world but that was two days ago! I'm sure durin such a dangerous time he wouldn't be goofin off or nothin."

"Is there anyway you can find him?" said Donald.

"There might be a way...give me a few minutes to find the right books." replied Yen Sid

Donald and Goofy waited patiently while Master Yen Sid looked at some shelves. Donald knew Sora could take care of himself and he wasn't too scared but something felt wrong about the situation. Sora was well aware of the danger they all faced and he wouldn't be wasting time in a situation like this. Donald looked towards Goofy and saw that he realized the same thing.

Master Yen Sid put forth a group of hefty looking tomes and started to flip through several pages before he spoke. "I'm about to attempt to locate Sora. Donald if you could put your hand on my shoulder please; the spell requires immense amounts of energy and I want you to support me." Donald nodded and Yen Sid started to mutter something under his breath.

Nothing happened for a few minutes but soon Donald was starting to feel sluggish. The colors around the room started to fade and the familiar scent of incense and books was gone. Instead Donald was able to feel everything in the room with precise clarity. He could feel Goofy's heartbeat across the room and could even sense the swaying leaves outside. He couldn't fathom what Master Yen Sid was experiencing but he put his faith in the Master.

Two minutes later and Donalds senses returned to normal but Master Yen Sid was still muttering under his breath. This went on for several more minutes before he finally stopped and spoke, "I could not locate Sora…"

"Do you at least have a clue" said Goofy.

"I know he is in neither the realm of light nor the dream world….this is rather troubling." replied Yen Sid. "I used a number of different spells to try and locate him but none gave me his exact location." Master Yen Sid paused for a bit. "If Sora were still in the Dream Realm then I should have been able to locate him with the tracer I placed upon him in there." Sensing Donald and Goofy's confusion he added, "I put it on him after he woke up just in case Xehanort tried to take him again. No one should be able to recognize the magical signature except me but the energy wasn't present in the dream realm so I searched neighboring worlds and their corridors incase he was already coming back but alas nothing."

"Master Yen Sid, how are you sure he's not in the realm of light?" said Donald.

"The tracer's signature would show up but it didn't. Luckily I was able to use Donald's energy to sense for any portal disturbances in both dream and light realms. I believe I've narrowed down three possible worlds but they're all in the Realm Between. The first is Castle Oblivion but nothing can teleport from the outside in anymore. The organization made certain of that so if he's there he's probably waiting outside. The second is twilight town. The third is a curious little place. It sits closer to the darkness than most other worlds but not enough to be engulfed. I have no experience with it and don't even know it's name but it's possible Sora's waiting there."

"Thank you very much Master Yen Sid! We'll leave right away!" said Goofy.

Donald and Goofy saluted quickly made to leave but Master Yen Sid stopped them.

"Wait a moment" said Yen Sid. "Sora and his keyblade in the past is what let you enter and leave the Realm Between. Allow me to enchant your gummi ship so that you can at least enter those three worlds. It will take a few minutes don't worry but wait just a few moments more."

* * *

Kairi was busy training with Riku at the moment. _I wonder how long it'll take till I'm at least half as good as those two,_ she thought. _Riku might be the master but Sora has definitely proven himself._ It seemed strange to Kairi that Riku was the only one to make the rank of master if Sora was also able to effectively seal the keyholes in the sleeping worlds but she thought about how she's still new to the keyblade business and let it go. _I'm barely getting the hang of sword fighting so I guess I'll understand the decision eventually._

It was slow and steady work but Kairi was learning how to effectively use her keyblade. Riku and Lea were an immense help when it came to learning how to physically fight. Merlin would handle the more magical aspects of her new powers but it was when she was sparring with Riku or Lea that she felt like she was back on the islands. _I never did join in on those little fights we had; I always played referee._

She was in a separate dimension Merlin had set up. He didn't go into specifics but effectively it was a small bubble in the lanes between worlds where Kairi and Lea could train as hard as possible without worrying about attracting undue attention or breaking anything. Lea was off buying Ice-cream or something and Kairi requested that the bubble look like the Island where they all played when they were younger. She was on the beach with Riku as he explained some simple mechanics of the keyblade again.

Riku explained, "Remember, your keyblade may be blunt but with the right intent it can cut through some of the toughest materials. The best example I have is when Sora and I turned a bunch of buildings into miserable cubes and triangles while fighting Xemnas."

Kairi spoke up then "Where is Sora anyway? Is he not gonna teach me anything."

"I asked Yen Sid if he could join us for a bit." said Riku. "Truth be told neither Sora nor I are gonna be overseeing your entire training but I hoped we could all spend a day together before we went off on our own."

"Well he better hurry up" Kairi said with a small frown. "First you both have to go away from the Islands for your exam and now he won't even show up for my training."

"I'm sure he'll get back soon. Even if all three of us can't be together at the same time, I'm sure he'll at least stop by in a few days." said Riku.

"You're right," Kairi began. "It just feels like Namine has been bugging me about him for a while now. Ever seen she became a part of me, she always kind of nudges me or even talks to me while I'm dreaming. I guess it has to do with her ability to change Sora's memories but she can also sense how he's doing and while she can't be specific, she can sense if he's hurting in some way. She gave me a pretty strong nudge a while back."

"Your own personal Sora scanner" Riku said jokingly.

"It isn't perfect but she hasn't been wrong. She was telling me about how Sora was in major trouble a few days ago when he almost got taken by the organization and yesterday I got the same feeling." Kairi explained.

"Well," Riku began, "Don't worry so much. Sora might have technically failed his exam but it wasn't because of his lack of combat ability." Riku put a hand on Kairi's shoulder, "I'm sure he's just fine. It took the organization months of planning to try to pull that off and has Namine said anything recently?"

"No...she says he's doing fine now." Kairi said. _Riku is probably right. I need to focus on my own skills if I ever want to be able to help and not sit on the sidelines anymore! Then when Namine says they're in trouble I'll come in Keyblade in hand._

Noticing the resolve in Kairi's eyes, Riku continued with the lesson, "There you go. Now! I want you to practice…."

* * *

 **Second Chapter done my friends! I've always noticed a lack of KingdomHeartsxRWBY fics so that's why I decided to make my own. I'm gonna try to release one chapter a week and since I'm telling a story I really want to read I'm sure I'll actually finish it. After all I already have a few further chapters done at the time of releasing this.**

 **So tell me what you loved, hated, think I can improve on. What was your favorite moment and all that Jazz!**

 **I hope you guys enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it.**

 **P.S I've separated thoughts and narration by italicizing the thoughts but if it's difficult to notice then please tell me so I can come up with a better way**


	3. Chapter 3

Gaining His Bearings

Roxas was busy waiting for Sora to get dreaming. _First we almost get taken by the organization and now we're lost….just great._ Roxas didn't really sleep anymore; he supposed not having to move a physical body did that to him. He spent most of his days wandering through Sora's memories and creating landscapes from them. _Now that Sora accepted all my memories, I should be able to talk to him more easily._

The area around Roxas started to change; where before there was nothing but a black abyss, there was now a gentle orange light suffusing everything. A train station and it's clock tower seemed to sprout out of the ground and Roxas grabbed onto the ledge as it rose up. The rest of Twilight Town started to join the small station courtyard but anything more than five feet away from it took on a blurred and fuzzy look.

Sora was laid down with his eyes closed in the space between the tower's ledge and clock face so Roxas elected to get him up. "HEY! You can take a nap later."

Sora's eyes slowly opened and he looked towards the source of the noise. Realizing just who he was talking to, Sora sat straight up and spoke, "Roxas! What are you doing here? Is this...the Twilight Town clock tower? Ho-"

"Hold on Sora," Roxas said with his arms slightly raised."You're dreaming right now and since I'm technically part of you I can influence them; this was just the easiest thing to make for me. You didn't think I just sat around in the dark sulking did you?"

"No...that makes sense," Sora said. He then smiled brightly at Roxas and sat next to him on the balcony ledge. The warm sunlight felt good, even if it wasn't technically real. "Guess we're like roommates huh? Anything else you can do?"

"Well I can do this," Roxas smiled and he pulled out two blue ice-cream bars from seemingly out of nowhere. Passing one to Sora, Roxas set to eating his and continued to explain, "I'm not sure how much I can do. There's only one other person like us but we can't exactly ask her about her experience right now can we?"

"I guess not," Sora said, "Kairi was still on the island before I left and I haven't seen her in a while. Do you know how Namine's doing? I still haven't thanked her for everything she did for me."

"I can only see her when you and Kairi are together so I have no idea how she's doing at the moment but I've got some stuff to talk about with you first." Roxas took on a more serious tone, "your heart is damaged Sora. When we got taken by the darkness, it did a number on you. Riku helped fix it but there are still cracks all around it and that's the reason your magic isn't working. While I can continue to repair the damage, it's going to take some time."

Sora paused for moment but smiled regardless, "I'm sure glad I have you guys then! We'd be organization zombies if it weren't for our friends"

"They're your friends Sora; I'm just a passenger now"

Sora felt a pang of guilt at that, he still wanted Roxas to be his own person but he had no idea how to do that. Sora settled for trying to cheer him up instead, "Roxas you're crazy! Everyone still thinks of you and we all want to know you're happy! Riku's sorry about taking you against your will by the way; it was the first thing he wanted me to tell you if I ever got another chance to talk to you."

A light smile shown on Roxas' face "Tell him it's alright the next time you see him. I'm still not convinced I'm as loved as you say I am Sora but maybe one day." _I did a lot of bad things when I was with the organization; I don't think they'd forgive me so easily._ "One more thing Sora. From what I can tell, your heart should actually be more damaged but something protected you and I can't figure out what. Do you have any ideas?"

Sora put a hand on his chin and closed his eyes for a while. After a few seconds he spoke, "Riku did say I was covered in some dark armor that he had to fight before I could wake up and, even stranger, it used a completely different fighting style than mine. That armor might be the reason you're looking for but I have no idea where it came from."

Roxas thought about it for a second, _I'll have to do some digging around in Sora's memories to find out then. This would be so much easier if Namine were here._

The two of them sat in silence for a while longer while eating their Ice-Cream. _I have to admit, it's kind of nice being able to do this again. I know Xion's somewhere in here but I can't seem to find her._

Their ice-cream bars were soon reduced to wooden sticks and Roxas could feel that it was almost time to wake up. "Sora be careful out there. I'm not sure if those things you fought were a form of heartless or not but they're dangerous. I'd like to keep on living to ya know," Roxas said with a suffused smile. "That Ms. Goodwitch might seem really stern and mean but she did let you sleep before asking you a bunch of questions so she's probably nicer than she lets on."

"Right!" Sora said, "I'll try not cause too much trouble and Roxas….I'll find a way so you can be your own person…."

"Don't worry too much about it. It's not too bad here and I can eat all the ice-cream I want without getting sick." The sad smile on Roxas' face showed otherwise but Sora decided not to push on. "It's almost time to wake up anyway. I'll see you the next time I have something to tell you."

"Can you meet me again the next time I go to sleep?" Sora asked.

"I can but why?" Roxas replied.

"So we can hang out obviously!" Sora said with a wide smile. "You're my friend Roxas. I don't want you to spend so much time alone. Next time we can eat ice-cream on the island tree I always hang out at. What do you say?"

Roxas was surprised of Sora's eagerness but with a warm smile on his face he nodded his head yes. "I'll see you in a bit then. Be careful out there."

* * *

Sora woke up before the Sun had fully rose. _Man, what time is it? What's up with this room?_ Everything around him was a stark white: the floor, the ceiling, and the tray on his side were all the same color and if the Sun was up he was sure the white would hurt his eyes a bit. The soft bed beneath him and warm blankets above were a welcome feeling however. He was curtained off in what he assumed to be a nurse's office or something, _Glynda did say she was taking me to an academy_. When he moved his hands to push off the covers, he noticed the wayfinder was still in his right hand. _Guess I slept with it. Glad I didn't break or drop it while I was asleep! Kairi would never let me hear the end of it._ He placed it back in his pocket and continued to survey his surroundings.

A strong rumble in his stomach stopped any further thought and he looked to the tray on his right. A small collection of fruits was placed on a bowl there and Sora gladly began to dig in to pass the time. _It might not taste as good as that Sea Salt Ice-cream but it's definitely filling._

* * *

Ruby awoke to the usual sounds of her dorm. Yang's snoring seemed to reverberate around the room and the slight rustle beneath her reminded her of Weiss' restless nature when she slept. _Guess I'll take a shower while the others get up, it's about 6:30._

Towel in hand, Ruby walked to the dorm bathroom and went about her routine. The warm shower helped awaken her senses and the smooth soap bar filled her nose with the scent of roses. _I'm starting to run a little low on shampoo and stuff. Maybe Yang will want to go to Vale soon to go shopping._

A quick change of clothes and Ruby was out the door. Weiss and Blake were already up and getting their things in order. "Morning guys!" Ruby said with a wide smile, "I hope you're all ready to take on the day."

Weiss replied, "I'll be ready in a bit. Make sure your Sister doesn't barge in while I'm showering again. I said I was almost done!" Weiss continued to grumble as she entered the bathroom turned on the shower.

"She was just mad because you took the last cheesecake yesterday! Which she totally called dibs on by the way!" Ruby called out from the other side. "What about you Blake, want to help me wake Yang up?"

"No thanks," came Blake's reply with a small smile, "I'd rather not have her steal my book again." Said book was now open in her lap as she started reading in bed.

"Fine...I'll do it." Ruby walked up to her sister's bed and tugged on the blankets covering her. "Yang wake up! I don't want you to make us late to class again especially with Oobleck threatening us with double the amount of work for winter break if we show up late today."

Yang's snoring came to a slow stop and she got up from bed. Yang spoke lazily and quietly, "I hear ya….Is Weiss in the shower?" Ruby nodded and Yang continued, "I'll just get my stuff ready then. You better be fast weiss-cream or I'm barging in again!"

An indignant "Hey!" was her answer and Yang moved about her drawers.

 _Thankfully Blake takes her shower a night,_ Ruby thought. _I'll clean up Crescent Rose while everyone's getting ready I guess._

After a few minutes, Weiss walked out of the bathroom and shot a small glare at Yang as she made her way over to her bed. Taking that as her cue, Yang hopped in next and the steady noise of falling water once again filled the room.

Surprisingly, Blake stopped reading to break the monotony of the room. "Did you see the strange guy they brought in on a stretcher yesterday? He isn't a student apparently and Ms. Goodwitch went out into the Emerald Forest to get him."

"Was he a civilian!? Why would they be out in the Emerald forest in the first place!?" Weiss replied.

"I don't know, I was walking along the courtyard and saw them. The pilot was going on about 'dumb kids wandering in the forest,'" Blake said.

"Is he alright?" Ruby asked.

"As far as I could tell he was just tired and a little beat up since they weren't in a rush to get him inside. Which means he must have some kind of training if he survived the Emerald Forest." Blake said. "I don't know. I just find it odd that some stranger was found in the middle of a grimm infested forest."

"Or he could be lucky. Seriously, what kind of idiot goes in by himself!" Weiss said.

Yang walked out of the bathroom right then and spoke "what I miss?"

"We'll tell you on the way to class," Ruby said. "Come on we have some time for breakfast and I don't want Oobleck mad at us." Blake started to tell Yang the story as Ruby led her team to the cafeteria. On the way out, JNPR met them in the hallway and the teams started to talk amongst themselves.

"Nora, I don't think anyone but you would ride a Nevermore into the Emerald Forest." Ren said.

"I don't know Ren….they make for excellent birds of burden." Nora answered with stout resoluteness. "Besides, rumor is he just appeared in the middle of the forest so how would you explain it."

Ruby smiled at the familiar banter between them. _Sounds like a lot of people have heard about this guy. I wonder what his weapon is! Oh man, If he survived the Emerald Forest he has to be either really strong or have some crazy weapon modifications! Maybe we'll get to meet him and I can ask him._

* * *

Sora had to wait about ten minutes before a nurse finally stopped by his little room. She spoke calmly, "I was hoping you'd be up. Your body doesn't have any major wounds and you only have a few bruises on your back but you were rather exhausted it seems. We were worried about your Aura reserves but they seem to have risen to green levels once more." _Aura?_ The nurse continued before he could ask however, "with that in mind, please report to the Headmaster's office soon."

"Uh Sure…." Sora said. "Just give me a minute."

With that the nurse left and Sora made sure he didn't leave anything behind as he walked out of the curtains. _Not many people here but that's probably a good thing._ Sora smiled to himself and put his hands behind his head as he walked through the hallways. _Alright! Time to get some answers, I just have to find the….where is the Headmaster?_ _Wait….where am I?_

Sora hadn't bothered to look for any signs and it seemed early enough that no one was out in the halls yet. _Great….I'm lost again! I'll just keep moving….I'm bound to run into someone who knows where the Headmaster is right?_

Sora paced through the halls of Beacon for another ten minutes before he found anyone. He ran into a group of what he assumed to be students if their uniforms were any indication and tried to flag them down. "Uh excuse me!" Sora half yelled with his arms waving, "do you guys know where the Headmaster's office is?"

They all turned to him and it was the short silver eyed girl who answered him. "Yeah he's at the top of the main tow...wait are you the guy they brought in from the forest." All of them looked more attentive for a second and the realization rolled across them in a wave. The group got closer until they could all get a closer look at his gear.

"You don't look very strong." the tall blonde girl said. "But I guess neither does Ruby."

"HEY"

The short pink haired girl answered next "Oooo do you have some super cool ninja skills like Ren?"

"You sure have a lot of belts. Do you use those to fight with?" the tall redhead girl politely asked.

Before Sora could get overrun by more questions he said, "I have a name you know! It's Sora and can you guys give me some room please."

They had the decency to move away a bit and look embarrassed but finally the silver eyed girl spoke, "Right-Sorry. I'm Ruby, this is my partner Weiss, this is Yang, and that's Blake." She pointed to each in turn and they all gave some form of hello. "Together we make up team RWBY."

The blonde boy spoke next, "I'm Jaune and I lead team JNPR. This is my partner Pyrrha, and that's Ren and Nora."

 _It's gonna be tough to remember all their names. I'll just stick to Ruby and Jaune for now._ "Right. Well like I said, I'm Sora and I need to get to the Headmaster's office. Do you guys know how to get there?" Sora asked.

"Yeah sure. It's at the top of the main tower over there. I can send a map to your scroll if you-" Having looked at the time, Ruby realized they only had 4 minutes to class time and promptly told everyone they needed to get going. "Oh Oum we're gonna be late to Oobleck's. Sorry Sora but you can probably figure out how to get there right? We'll see you later."

Sora watched the group rush off ahead of him and sighed to himself. "I'll see ya later then!" he called out. He then muttered, "What's a scroll…"

* * *

It took him a while to find the Tower but soon Sora was soon headed up the elevator to the Headmaster's Office. _What's his name anyway…_

The doors opened and he walked into what he thought a clock tower would be like inside. A quiet drawn out "woah" left his lips as he looked at the lazily spinning interconnected gears above him and when he looked underneath himself, he was surprised to find more. _Why can't Master Yen Sid decorate like this?_ The slight smell of coffee hit him next and the sunlight from the huge windows made him feel safe. He stared at different gears as he walked forward and mused on if it would be okay to look at them a while longer.

"I see by your look of amazement that you quite like my office." the headmaster said in a smooth low tone. "It was difficult to plan out the room with all the different gears but I think the effort wasn't wasted if it still garners reactions like yours."

"It was definitely worth it." Sora took the time to look at the man sitting behind the large oval desk. He wore a green suit and his white hair reminded him of Riku in a way. _He doesn't seem all that old at least._ The headmaster in question was currently looking at Sora and taking the odd sip from a mug with an emblem Sora didn't recognize. Truth be told, the headmaster was far less imposing than Sora had imagined and his warm smile reminded him of the way Merlin would look at him after mastering a spell. "So….you wanted to talk to me?" Sora asked.

The Headmaster chuckled and said, "Please take seat." Sora sat himself across Ozpin in a surprisingly comfortable chair. "Allow me to introduce myself first. I'm Professor Ozpin and I run Beacon Academy. Our sensors and cameras spotted you in the Emerald Forest and I felt it important to know what exactly you were doing there so I sent a Professor to retrieve you. Ms. Goodwitch thinks you're either one of the most dangerous individuals she's met or the most trusting. She's inclined to believe you're the latter but I had to see for myself. So which is it?"

"Why would she think I was so dangerous?" Sora asked instead.

"Despite your obvious fatigue, it would still be difficult to fall asleep so easily and she's baffled as to how you could look so relaxed in your situation," Ozpin replied. He removed all traces of warmth from his eyes and Sora felt like Ozpin could see right into his heart, "So let me rephrase myself, why were you in the Emerald Forest?"

 _I can't exactly tell him about other worlds. I've mentioned it a lot to other people but there's a reason I keep getting warned not to._ "I'm not from around here," Sora began, "I live on these tiny Islands far away from here and I've been training to fight heartless."

"Heartless?" Ozpin asked.

"The black creatures. They're made when darkness takes over somebody's heart." Sora saw that Ozpin looked far more intrigued than before and pressed on. "Heartless are trouble but they're not the most dangerous; the real bad guys are this group called Organization 13 who wear these long black coats. They can control the Heartless and are using them for their own goals."

"And what are those goals?" Ozpin asked.

 _I can't exactly tell him about the keyblade war without exposing the other worlds….I'll just keep it simple._ "They want to take everything over and rule with the power of darkness. There are 13 of them and are pretty strong." Sora said instead. "I was actually fighting a member when I tried to escape using my own portal and wound up here."

"How did you make such a thing?" Ozpin asked.

"My Keyblade lets me unlock certain paths." Sora outstretched his right hand and materialized his Kingdom Key and Ozpin simply raised an eyebrow at the display. "The Keyblade is what I use to fight with and I would have actually left the forest as soon as I arrived but my magic isn't responding."

"Allow me to stop you there. You're telling me that you can use magic?" Ozpin said.

"Well not right now….I took some serious damage in one of my last fights with the organization and it's gonna take some time and training to use it again." Sora explained then added sheepishly "I'm kind of stuck."

"Sora do you know what the four Kingdoms are?" Ozpin asked.

"Can't say I do," Sora said.

"They are the four best guarded safe havens in Remnant." Ozpin said. "There are plenty of villages and nomadic people roaming between them but those can be easily lost to the creatures of grimm- that's what we call the heartless. These Islands and Organization you speak of are new to me but magic is not. Can you tell me how many more Keyblade wielders there are?"

"Organization 13 is led by a Keyblade Master called Xehanort and there are probably a few others on their side that can use a keyblade. As for my friends….there's about 3 of us at the moment and we're searching for a few more." Sora continued, "I don't think they'll be coming anytime soon though; I sort of got here by accident." _It can't be that bad to tell him about that can it?_

"This is quite a lot to process I must say. I'm sure you're getting rather hungry by now as well so I think this will be a good place to pause our chat." Ozpin's smile had returned by this point and Sora suddenly felt relieved for not having given away much this time. Ozpin continued, "If you would like, I can set you up with a room here as a transfer student of Beacon to make it easier for you to rest and eat. There would be a few extra rules and some paperwork to cover but I highly recommend joining us for the moment. Unless, of course, you have somewhere else to go?"

 _I really don't and it's not like I have a plan. I joined the chinese army so what's a little school?_ "That sounds great! What do you need me to do?" Sora asked.

"Well first I'm going to need you to fill out this team form," Ozpin pulled out a small stack of papers for Sora to read over. "I know you said that your friends weren't likely to arrive here anytime soon but it's customary for students to be in a team of four while attending Beacon. You may write down whatever names you wish, I'll leave it up to you." _Where did he even have these?_ Sora looked at the paper and had to pause for a moment. _The first initial is for the team leader but everything else can be a different order, it says. Each team is also made up of two sets of partners….well this isn't too hard! I'll be team leader and my partner can be Riku but who do I write for the other two? Kairi seems like a good choice if only cause she'd get mad if I didn't put her on the team…as for the last member, Roxas? He can't be his own person yet but he won't mind if I use his name._

With a self satisfied smile, Sora passed the paper back to Ozpin and waited for his response. Ozpin began to read aloud "Sora, Riku, Kairi, and Roxas will make up team SKRR, pronounced seeker, and their leader is Sora." Ozpin paused for a second and looked to Sora, "We'll have to come up with a less conspicuous backstory for you. Magic is powerful but it's best to keep it hidden from the public at large; Remnant already has enough problems without people trying to fight over those abilities."

Sora didn't really get it but he decided to follow Ozpin's decision on this one. "So what now?" Sora asked.

"I suggest getting yourself something to eat," Ozpin smirked mischievously, "your stomach after all has been making quite racket for the past few minutes. I'll send all the details to your scroll but for now just tell everyone that you're from a small recently discovered Island chain off the coast of Menagerie. You've been attending Shade Academy with your team this year but have gotten special permission to transfer over to Beacon. As to why you were in the Emerald Forest, tell everyone that you had been undergoing a mini initiation where I asked you to fight Grimm for a few hours. Also, don't materialize your keyblade while others are looking just yet. I need to know the full extent of your abilities before we can come up with a plausible excuse...what's your semblance?"

"Semblance? Scroll?" Sora asked with confusion all over his face.

"Right…" Ozpin let out a long sigh and spoke a few moments later, "A scroll is a portable device that is often used for communication but it can also store plenty of files and documents. I'll provide one for you and on it will be plenty of basic information you'll want to know if you're going to be staying here. You're free to go about the rest of your day as you see fit but you're going to have to start attending classes if you want to keep up appearances. You won't have to attend for at least two weeks though due to the upcoming break. Come back in about an hour to receive your scroll and dorm room location."

 _I still don't quite get it but okay._ Sora nodded to the headmaster and stood up from his chair..

"I hope you'll enjoy your time with us." Ozpin said with a smile.

Sora looked over at all the gears again before walking towards the elevator. Once inside, he smiled, gave a final wave to Ozpin, and pushed the 1st floor button to start his descent.

 _I'll just figure things out as I go along. Won't be that much different from usual._

* * *

Ozpin sat pensive in his chair and looked to the elevator door as it closed. _It seems Sora is quite versed in the way the supernatural works even if he doesn't know about our kingdoms. His understanding of the Grimm is far greater than any we have however; could their secrets really be that simple? He's going to be with us for a while at least so we'll have more time to get some answers._

Glynda exited the small room she was waiting in and began to speak, "so what do you think of Sora Professor Ozpin?"

"I think he's a sweet caring boy but I fear he has a large burden on his shoulders he isn't willing nor able to share," Ozpin said. "We're gonna have to keep a close eye on him for the time being but I'm comfortable in saying that he only poses a threat to the Grimm-or heartless as he calls them. Make sure to get him accommodated to his new surroundings, I want him to feel safe around us."

"Of course," Glynda said. "I am worried about this Organization he mentioned. What do you think we should do about them?"

"Nothing for the time being. We don't know their capabilities and we lack the information to even begin searching for them," Ozpin said. "I'm certain Sora will be able to tell us more in due time."

"If there's nothing else, then I will be taking my leave. These students still need a combat instructor after all." Glynda gave a small nod to Ozpin and headed for the elevator.

Ozpin turned his chair to look out over the Beacon campus and heard the elevator doors close behind him. He reached for his mug and was disappointed to see it empty. _Time to get to work...as exciting it is to hear Sora's tale I still have my teaching duties to fulfill._

* * *

 **Welp we're getting close to finishing our little introduction arc. There hasn't been much done plot wise but it takes time to set up a crossover like this without rushing it; I didn't want Ozpin to accept Sora into Beacon simply because he saw him fight a few grimm in a forest. I'm sure you caught on that Ozpin thinks Sora might hold the secrets of the Grimm and possibly other avenues to acquiring magic. Something like that in Remnant would probably be the next best thing to the discovery of dust so that's why Ozpin wants Sora close at hand.**

 **Not much else on the Kingdom Hearts side of things this time but we'll be seeing them soon. The story might seem slow at the moment but don't worry, I have a plan.**

 **So tell me what you loved, hated, and think could use some work. I appreciate people taking the time to review my work so please do!**

 **P.S I don't exactly have an update schedule planned but I'm trying to create a backlog so by the time this chapter updates I'll at least have chapter 4 finished. I want to keep up my one chapter a week thing after my spring break ends. Also I have no beta so any errors are my own.**


	4. Chapter 4

New Friends, New Problems

After going back to Ozpin's office for his new Scroll, Sora made his way to his assigned room. _This place sure is big...and I thought Beast's Castle was confusing. At least I have a map this time...my room should be just up ahead._ Checking the paper map given to him, Sora was making steady progress down the multiple corridors of Beacon. He wasn't sure how many people were living in his current hallway but there were no familiar smells or sounds of life coming from any of the closeby dorms. _Maybe they're out at classes or something?_

Sora reached the door to his dorm and passed his scroll over the knob like Ozpin said he should. A small click sounded and he walked inside. There wasn't much to look at: the room smelled a little like lemon and there were four beds arranged in a row with desks between them. He checked a door inside and saw that it led to the bathroom and then he looked at the walls and saw there was only one window. He walked over to the curtain and pulled it aside to open the window. He could see the main courtyard outside and he noticed a few students walking about with weapons in hand. With the gentle breeze bringing in the scent of pine, Sora walked over to a small stack of paper on one of the beds and set to reading the first page.

 _Hello Sora. On these sheets you will find some instructions on how to use your Scroll, a list of Beacon's rules and regulations, and a class schedule. Please read them carefully. We've also left you some changes of clothes in the drawers and some toiletries in the bathroom so feel free to clean up. If you have further questions or your clothes don't fit well please do not hesitate to notify me via Scroll. Sincerely, Glynda Goodwitch._

Sora put the papers aside and went to take a shower for the time being. _I haven't cleaned up in a while...I hope I didn't smell too bad out there._

* * *

Donald and Goofy had just arrived at Twilight Town and we were growing more apprehensive by the second. "I don't like this Goofy. I feel like Sora isn't here." Donald squawked out.

"Awww I'm sure he's here with Hayner and the gang. Why, he's probably relaxing and eating Ice-cream as we speak!" Goofy said.

"Well he better save us some! It was spooky going back to Castle Oblivion. I know we didn't go inside but the place still gives me the creeps!" Donald said.

"You said it." Goofy replied.

They made their way over to the usual spot and found the familiar trio laughing and talking amongst themselves. They looked up and noticed Donald and Goofy waving at them.

"Donald! Goofy! Glad to see you drop by, how are you!" Hayner said.

"We've been doing okay. Say, have you seen Sora around?" Goofy asked.

Olette answered, "Can't say we have. We thought he was with you guys fighting the Organization. Is Kairi okay by the way?"

"Kairi's just fine. She's training with some friends so she can get stronger." Donald replied. "Sora's actually gone missing and we were hoping to find him here."

"Sorry but we haven't seen Sora. Do you think he's in trouble?" Pence asked.

"You don't think that he finally found too much trouble to deal with do you?" Hayner asked.

"Gwarsh, we sure hope not." Goofy answered. "He left to take care of something important but he took far longer than he said he would. We tracked him down to three separate worlds but we haven't found him yet."

"How many have you visited so far?" Olette asked.

"This is the second so there's only one place left he can be." Donald answered. "We've never been there before so we don't know what to expect. Don't worry! We'll get Sora back!"

"I sure hope so. Bring him over the next time you guys visit! We'll go to the beach and everything!" Pence said.

"Let us know if you see Sora. We're going to explore the rest of the town and then head back here." Donald said.

"We'll hold down the fort don't worry." Hayner said. "Be careful out there."

With a final wave, Donald and Goofy walked out of the hidden alcove and went to explore the rest of the town-hoping to find Sora.

* * *

The school uniforms provided fit more comfortably than Sora expected. _The shoes are huge though! I know my own shoes are big but the insides of them are way smaller than they look...I'll just wear my regular shoes I guess._ Checking himself out in the bathroom mirror, Sora had to admit it didn't look to bad. _It doesn't have the space for most of my items but it is just a uniform after all._ He decided he only needed the scroll, its instructions, and Kairi's wayfinder for now so he stuffed those into his pants pockets. Taking one last look at the dorm, Sora set off to explore the Beacon campus.

As he walked through the halls, Sora held the scroll in his right hand and the instructions in his left. _Open up a scroll by pulling the two sides apart...the width can be adjusted by pulling and pushing as far as you like._ Sora tried it and was greeted with a see through screen with some holographics folders over it. _Academies, Aura, CCT, Contacts, Dust, Games, Great War, Grimm, History, Huntsman, Locker Controls, Magic, Semblances, and Special Rules for Sora. This isn't so bad! I was worried I'd have to deal with something like Ansem's computer again...these are a lot of topics though._ Smiling to himself Sora continued to open and close various folders to see just how much he'd have to look through. His smile faltered when he noticed just how much reading he needed to do. _Sheesh, when am I gonna be able to read all this!_

Putting his Scroll away for the time being, Sora focused on finding a way outside. _I'm sure I'll be more comfortable reading under a shady tree._ Smiling brightly, Sora made his way to the Beacon courtyard and upon arrival noticed the huge statue at the center. _Have the heartless always existed in this world? This statue looks really old but Heartless weren't released across the worlds until a few years ago right?_

Noticing a tree to his liking a few feet away, Sora went to sit under it and opened his scroll. He selected the Special Rules folder to begin his reading session but true to his nature; Sora fell asleep halfway through the first document.

* * *

Teams RWBY and JNPR were walking toward their dorm rooms and talking amongst themselves after a long day of classes. Their dorms were on the other side of a school courtyard and the teams were walking next to some of the trees along the fountains and enjoying the midday breeze carried up the cliffs. Winter break technically started tomorrow and so the students were busy talking about their plans for the upcoming two weeks.

"I was hoping Goodwitch would have me fight Pyrrha before we went on winter break," Yang said aloud.

"We could spar before you have to leave tomorrow if you like." Pyrrha said.

"I don't know if I can. Me and Ruby are gonna be busy setting up our little dorm party today and packing for our trip tomorrow." Yang answered. Yang looked a little disappointed but the thought of home lightened her mood.

"What about you Blake? I understand you're not going home for the holiday and I finished packing yesterday," Pyrrha said. "Truth be told, I'm rather disappointed I didn't get to fight today either."

"Maybe...I actually did get to fight today and I have some reading I wanted to get finished," Blake said. Left unsaid was how she was also going to be looking up recent robberies and any other criminal activity that could be related to the White Fang. She didn't want to worry her team about the Fang so close to the break.

"Shame then," Pyrrha replied.

"We could ask that new kid Sora if you want Pyrrha!" Nora suddenly said. "Velvet saw him leave for the courtyard a while back in full uniform. Well not full uniform…he's got some big shoes apparently."

Before Nora could launch into a bubbly tirade Weiss interrupted her, "wait…he was wearing a Beacon uniform!? But it's halfway through the year! How did he get enrolled?"

"Heck if I know!" Nora half shouted. "Why don't we ask him? He's sitting right over there."

Everyone's gaze turned to the tree Nora was pointing at and right at the foot of it sat Sora napping. He had a soft smile and the breeze would sway his hair back and forth. They stood there in silence for a moment trying to decide if they should wake him. Weiss broke the silence.

"It looks like he was busy studying and fell asleep," she noted. "Probably a good idea if he's starting at Beacon so late."

"Should we wake him up?" Ruby asked. "He looks really peaceful."

Before anyone could answer, Nora was already in front of Sora and prodding him awake. "Hey wake up! We got some questions mister!"

"Nora please leave him alone." Ren said.

"Nonsense, if he wanted to be left alone he would have stayed in his dorm!" Nora countered. She turned her attention back to the sleeping Sora and continued her "gentle" poking. "Sora right!? Wake up lazy bum."

Sora gently stirred but his eyes remained closed. "Give me a break Kairi," he muttered. The group shared a look of confusion but by then Sora had fully awoken.

"Noooo, I'm Nora remember?" Nora said. "Who's Kairi?"

Sora blinked bleary eyes at the group ahead of him and answered, "just an old friend. What are you guys doing here?" He stood up and put his scroll away to be at eye level with everyone else.

"Uh we go to school here," Yang said. "The better question is what are you doing here in a Beacon uniform?"

Sora seemed to freak out for a second but calmed down quickly. "I got special permission to transfer here from Slade Academy. Ozpin helped set me up but my uh team isn't gonna be here for a while." Sora chuckled nervously under all the attention and almost panicked when Blake asked him something.

"Don't you mean Shade?" she asked.

"Yeah Shade! My bad." Sora answered. "Just nervous ya know?" he added with a warm smile.

That seemed to satisfy Blake and Sora let out a mental sigh of relief. Nora caught Sora's attention again and she asked him what everyone had on their mind at the moment, "so why were you out in the forest yesterday?"

"Ozpin wanted me to prove myself so he sent me out to fight in the forest for a few hours," Sora said with a proud smile on his face. "I sort of had to fight my way back to a cliff."

"At least he didn't have you collect chess pieces or worry about making a partner," Jaune said. "Did he fling you in on those ejector pads to?"

Sora looked confused for a second but shook his head no. "I was just kind of dropped in the middle of the forest you could say."

"You already made it into Shade so I'm sure he didn't feel the need to lay on too much pressure," Pyrrha said. "Are you going home for the upcoming Winter break?"

Sora's smile faltered a little and he spoke a little quieter this time, "Home is kind of hard to get to right now so I'm gonna be staying at Beacon for the time being. What about you guys?"

Ruby answered this time, "Well me and Yang are headed back to patch but Weiss and Blake are going to be staying."

"Nora and I are going to be staying over at Jaune's place." Ren said. "His mother was quite insistent we go."

"Yeah! We're going to make pillow forts and everything!" Nora added.

"And I'm going to be visiting my parents back at Mistral." Pyrrha said.

"Sounds like you're all going to have a lot of fun," Sora said. "Wish I could join some of you."

"Well there is one way you could join us!" Nora exclaimed. "We're having a little get together tonight before we separate and you can be invited."

"Can be?" Sora asked.

"Yup, all you gotta do is fight Pyrrha here one on one," Nora said. "You win and you're invited" she added with a firm nod.

"Nora I'm no-" Pyrrha tried to interject but was quickly silenced when Yang joined in.

"Yeah! You said yourself you were disappointed about not getting to fight today!"

Jaune interrupted with, "don't you have some packing and party setting to do?"

Yang snorted and said, "that can wait if I get to see a hot new transfer student show off his moves. So what do you say Sora?"

All eyes turned to the man in question and he looked hesitant. After a few moments though he let a wide smile cover his face and answered, "Sure! Just let me get my stuff from my room!"

With that, all nine of them headed to the beacon dorms to prepare for the match.

* * *

Sora was surprised to see that his dorm was so close to RWBY and JNPR. They were literally just a turn away and he promised to meet them outside in the hallway once he was done changing. _I should quickly look at my scroll to see if there are any special rules about my fighting._ Sora pulled out his scroll and moved it over the doorknob to open his room

Once inside, Sora opened the folder marked _Special Rules for Sora_ and opened the _Fighting_ document. _Alright, I can't use magic yet and I can't make my keyblade disappear then reappear. Simple._

Sora started to change into the clothes given to him by Master Yen Sid and the Fairies and once finished he extended his right arm. Immediately, his Kingdom Key materialized within his palm and Sora was glad to feel the familiar weight of it once more. _At least you're still with me._

Exiting his dorm, Sora made his way over to team RWBY's door and found their aforementioned leader waiting outside. "We're just waiting on Weiss and Ren now." Ruby said. "The others went on ahead to secure a sparring arena from Ms. Goodwitch." Ruby's eyes locked onto Sora's Keyblade and said, "Is that your weapon! Can I see it!?"

 _It'll probably transfer back to me if I let her hold it so I'll just let her scan it while I'm grabbing it._ "Sure," Sora said. He held out his keyblade with a firm grip and let Ruby look over it.

Her first words stung him more than he cared to admit, "It doesn't look like much. Does it do or transform into anything? Also why does it look like a key?" She was too busy studying Sora's keyblade to notice his look of indignation but Sora cheered up quickly. _She doesn't know just how powerful it actually is so of course she won't think much of it._

"It's called a keyblade. You'd be surprised at what it can do but I'd have to show you so you can understand" Sora said.

"Well I kind of like it actually...it's pretty unique and I'm sure you're pretty handy with it," Ruby responded. "I got this." Ruby pulled out the weapon hanging on her back to show Sora. It looked like a block of red metal but Ruby pushed a few buttons and it elongated into something resembling a sniper rifle.

"It's a gun?" Sora asked.

"It also transforms into a huge war scythe but I'm not allowed to transform it in the halls anymore…" Ruby said sheepishly. Nervously she continued, "I went a little nuts designing it but all it's forms and functions are just the coolest you know!?"

Sora's eyes lit up in wonder and he couldn't wait to see the whole thing unfolded. Excitedly he asked, "Can you show it to me at the Arena!? I want to see all the forms!"

Noticing Sora's genuine smile and excitement Ruby's nervousness disappeared completely. "Oh my gosh yes! I won't get too busy with all the small details but my sweetheart would love to meet you!"

Weiss walked out to see an eager Sora and Ruby with their weapons out and felt the need to say, "Please tell me you aren't about to fight in the hallway. You might be leaving but I don't want Ms. Goodwitch to punish me during the break."

"Don't worry so much Weiss! We were just showing off our weapons to each other!" Ruby said.

Ren walked out his dorm a few seconds later and noticed Ruby's weapon unfolded in her arms and said, "Ruby please tell me you aren't about to try something in the hall again. Last time Ms. Goodwitch had us clean all the training arena's till she could see herself in them."

Weiss gave a Ruby the "I told you so" look and shifted her attention to Sora as Ruby explained the situation to Ren. Weiss added, "So your weapon is a giant key? I can't say I find it practical."

"Just let me show you guys what I'm made of," Sora said. "You won't be laughing when you see what I can do with it." _Is everyone going to say something about my Keyblade? Not everyone can have their weapons transfo-..actually my keyblade can transform...I just need to figure out how to do it._

Ruby broke his train of thought with, "Well everyone is waiting at the sparring Arena so we should get going. They even got Ms. Goodwitch to referee somehow."

"Or maybe she doesn't trust us to NOT break something," Weiss added.

"Details, details. Come one let's get moving," Ruby said. With that the four of them set off to the nearby training area.

* * *

 **Eyyyy another chapter done. I originally had Pyrrha and Sora fight in this chapter but I decided to split it into two to better help with the story's overall pacing. Plot is moving like Molasses at the moment and I want to get into all the cool organization/salem stuff but I'm gonna have them come in at the end of this arc. It feels weird if I just start dropping them in while I'm in the middle of the Beacon introduction.**

 **Also, so far the chapters have been focused on very short time frames but don't expect that to be the case. I'm not going to write 5+ chapters for every two days so if that's something on your mind don't worry. There won't be any month long time skips but you'll get a sense of time progression in the later chapters.**

 **Tell me what you thought! I appreciate all feedback as long as you aren't being unnecessarily mean! Even telling me your favourite part helps.**

 **Reviews gimme that sweet, sweet, validation I crave so please help me out**

* * *

Crescent Rose did nothing wrong

"Ruby please tell me you're not going through with this..." Weiss said.

"Weiss relax," Ruby said, "Nora said Goodwitch is on the other side of the school so not only is this toooootally safe; We also won't get in trouble!"

Ruby didn't know what Weiss was so worried about! _I know what I'm doing. So far I can only really run in a straight line but if I want to work on my maneuverability I'm gonna have to use an obstacle course._ Said obstacle course was the labyrinth of hallways of Beacon's dormitory building. Ruby was currently going to try moving around with a fully extended Crescent Rose; after all, what good was being able to turn better if she wasn't practicing with her weapon?

"If we could get IN trouble, then doesn't that mean this isn't safe either!?" Weiss rebutled. "There are also people in those hallways who will undoubtedly report you"

"Jaune and Yang already cleared out the hallways I'm gonna use so just sit tight." Ruby said.

Ruby's scroll was ringing and when she answered it Jaune's face shown through the monitor. "You're all clear Ruby. Please try not to break anything…" Jaune said with a wince.

Yang's voice cut in from out of view, "Stop worrying so much Jaune; She's gonna be just fine. Do your best Rubes!"

Ruby spared one last look at Weiss who was busy fuming to the side. Ruby heard a few muttered dolts and something about detentions but she didn't worry too much about it. Taking a deep breath Ruby launched herself into the fray.

Left. Right. Right. Left. Things were going great for Ruby as she sped down hallways and past some students holding tickets? _That's weird? Is Nora running another betting pool!?_ Doing her best to not get distracted by that, Ruby continued her adventure as she expertly weaved between students, halls, and staff alike.

 _Wait...those were some professors….oh no_

Instead of stopping, Ruby sped up in the hopes that they wouldn't recognize her as if there was another super fast scythe wielding little girl. It didn't work.

Ruby turned one last corner and her blood froze in fear. Ms. Goodwitch was waiting for Ruby next to a sullen looking Jaune, Yang, and Nora. The moment Ruby noticed her, she was stopped by an unseen force and sent flying to Goodwitch.

Ruby was suspended laying down with a fully formed crescent rose touching the ground below her. "Ms. Goodwitch! How are you?" Ruby asked with a brittle smile.

Ms. Goodwitch answered her with a fierce glare and a strict tone. "I will give you one chance to explain your actions Ms. Rose. Pray that you do not dissatisfy me."

Ruby was suddenly tongue tied but finally gathered the courage to speak. "Well...you see...I wanted to work on my maneuverability and turning speeds so we set up this little obstacle course to help me with that!" Ruby said it with conviction and remained hopeful when she saw Ms. Goodwitch smirk at her.

"Oh..so this was for training was it?" Ms. Goodwitch said. Her smirk remained present and Ruby made to answer but was cut off when she was forced to meet the ground. "You'll have all the time in the world to acquaint yourself with the rooms built for that purpose." Ms. Goodwitch turned to look at her other captives, "Along with your team and JNPR since they seemed so okay with it. You shall be cleaning those rooms everyday for the next week am I understood?"

"Yes...of course" Ruby said.

"Also you will no longer be allowed to have your weapon out in the hallways unless it's in it's compact form." Ms. Goodwitch said. Ruby made to object but the look in Ms. Goodwitch's eyes quickly ended that rebellion. "If I have any repeats of this incident you'll be cleaning more than the sparring arenas."

 _Awww man this sucks…._

* * *

 **Bonus little story for you guys this time. Maybe I'll do more omakes but only if I actually think of something funny or relevant that I can't integrate well into the main story.**


	5. Chapter 5

Magnets! How do they work?

The arena was much closer than Sora expected but the designers of Beacon knew that students would want to blow off steam on occasion so they set the sparring arenas closer to the dorms than the other classrooms. It took less than five minutes to get there from the dorms.

The door was open and Sora was surprised to see quite a bit of people filling the stands. _Is that Nora at a concession Stand? Is that an action figure of me and Pyrrha!_

Sora hurried over excitedly to take a look at the mini him. Currently Nora was selling a bunch of popcorn to some students and passing out different tickets with Pyrrha and Sora's faces on them. When confronted she said it would be a crime to not profit off the fight.

"So what are the tickets for?" Sora asked.

"They're tokens of favor to show your support!" Nora said aloud. She then whispered in his ear, "they're for the betting pool. So far, Pyrrha has sold more tickets than you."

"Awww man. Do people not have much faith in me or something?" Sora asked.

"Nah, Pyrrha is just something of a prodigy." Nora added. "You just chose a real tough opponent to face."

Sora looked to the girl in question and saw her doing a few stretches and talking with Ms. Goodwitch. All his new friends were sitting next to Nora's concession stand and Sora was shocked to see every one of them bought a Pyrrha ticket.

"Sorry Sora," Ruby said sheepishly. "You did pick one of the toughest fighters of this generation."

"I have to support my partner you know," Jaune added proudly.

There was a collective group of excuses being thrown his way but Sora noticed the one guy who had bought Sora's ticket. He was sitting next to Blake and had a dress shirt with the buttons undone. He looked over to see Sora and spoke amicably, "Hey don't worry! I thought it would look really lame if we all had bet on Pyrrha so I bought one of you."

"Thanks...I'm Sora and who are you?" Sora asked.

"I'm Sun nice to meet ya!" Sun said with an outstretched hand. Sora shook it firmly and looked to the rest of his friends and stuck his tongue out for good measure.

"I'll show you Crescent Rose after your fight Sora! Good Luck!" Ruby said.

With a quick nod, Sora made his way to the top of the platform and walked over to where Glynda and Pyrrha were talking. _I'm just gonna have to win so I can rub it in their faces. I wonder what kind of weapon Pyrrha uses?_

* * *

Pyrrha watched Sora approach with what looked like an oversized key in hand. _What a strange weapon choice. I suppose Blake does use ribbons but why a key?_

Sora smiled brightly at them and walked up casually to Ms. Goodwitch. "What's up Glynda!" he said with a wave. "Thanks for letting me sleep in yesterday!"

Pyrrha was honestly shocked by the overly familiar way Sora was talking to Ms. Goodwitch. _Oh no is he going to get in trouble? The only one who talks to Ms. Goodwitch that way is Nora but she always get's in trouble for it._

To her credit, Ms. Goodwitch wasn't fazed by Sora's behavior but she did take a second longer to respond. "It was nothing Sora. You fought hard in the forest and it was only right you got properly rested up."

"So why are you refereeing our fight?" Sora asked.

"As I was just telling Ms. Nikos, I have never seen you properly fight something that isn't a Grimm so I'm taking this opportunity to see how well you fare against a human opponent," Glynda answered. "I hope you don't disappoint me," she added with a small smile.

"Just you watch!" Sora replied with a small flex. "I'll show you what I'm made of." The confident smile and conviction in Sora's voice had Pyrrha feeling rather excited to see what Sora would do.

"I'm not going to hold back so feel free to come at me with all you've got Sora," Pyrrha said with a confident smirk.

"You bet!" Sora replied.

"Before I set you free…," Ms. Goodwitch interrupted, "Sora, did you get a chance to read over the rules we forwarded to your scroll?"

His nervous chuckle said all.

With an exasperated sigh, Ms. Goodwitch asked Pyrrha to give her and Sora a little privacy. _That's rather odd...why doesn't she want me to hear?_ With little else to do, Pyrrha took this as an opportunity to look at the crowd gathered before her. _How did Nora gather this many people? It's by no means packed but it seems she was able to invite most of our friends and a few others._ The JNPR RWBY combo (+ Sun) sat front and center with CVFY behind them. A few of Yang's friends were surrounding her and Pyrrha noticed about 2 other teams she wasn't quite familiar with. _Oh no, is Nora running a betting pool again? I'm not sure how to feel about most of them being my own. At least Sun had the decency to vote for Sora._

After a few minutes, Pyrrha looked over to see Sora nodding fervently with a look of understanding. Satisfied, Glynda and he walked over to Pyrrha and Ms. Goodwitch spoke again. "The match will end when your Aura enters the red, you are knocked out of the stage, or you decide to give up. I just want to remind you that any unnecessary force or unsportsmanlike behavior will be meted out the proper punishment." She then added, "I don't believe that will be a problem however. You will begin on my mark so please take a starting position."

Sora and Pyrrha took positions opposite each other and got into their respective combat ready stances. With a slight crouch, Pyrrha put her shield a little ahead of her and readied her Xiphos to the side while Sora bent both knees and put his Keyblade near his waist. _I don't recognize his stance from any fighting style...I wonder how he trained…_

"3...2...1...begin," Ms. Goodwitch called out.

Pyrrha began her attack by rushing Sora with her shield held out. He seemed content with waiting for her to get closer and just when she was about to bash his face, Sora quickly rolled to the side and followed up with a lightning fast dash forward with Keyblade facing downward and at an angle. Not one to get caught off guard, Pyrrha quickly blocked the blow with her shield and deflected it to the side.

Seeing the opportunity, Pyrrha stabbed out with Milo and Sora took a hit to the gut. With a loud oof, Sora was knocked a little into the air and Pyrrha made to rush in with her own flurry of blows.

To her surprise, Sora somehow recovered mid-air with a flip and met her first swing halfway through. Pyrrha twisted her body to the side to let the blow sail past instead of trying to forcefully stop it.

Moving to the attack, Sora sent a series of horizontal slashes at Pyrrha that she had trouble guarding against. He seemed to only be twisting on one foot and like a demented top was wearing Pyrrha's strength down. Finally, Pyrrha's shield was thrown too far to the side and Sora followed up with another dash inward.

This one was successful and Pyrrha was sent back. Sora didn't waste any time and moved in closer to continue his barrage but Pyrrha threw her shield out in an amazing show of dexterity and Sora was forced to block it.

 _Seems the crowd is enjoying it. I must say, Sora seems to be awfully skilled at close range combat...perhaps he won't do so well at a distance._

Pyrrha, using her semblance, made slight corrections to Akoúo̱ so that it returned back to her hand and prepared a jump backward. Leaping behind her and shifting Milo into a rifle, Pyrrha crouched and started to take shots at Sora. He dodged a few of them by twisting his body around but one caught his shoulder and he was knocked off balance. Pyrrha quickly unloaded the rest of her clip into Sora's chest before he could recover and was satisfied to see his Aura dip into the yellow. Pyrrha's own Aura was still sitting comfortably at a high green and she quickly reloaded her rifle to try again.

Pyrrha was pleased to hear Sora mutter, "That rifle really packs a punch," as he massaged his chest.

Pyrrha wanted to respond but talking to your opponent mid fight wasn't a good winning strategy. _I'm sure he won't mind a few more bullets._ Pyrrha squeezed the trigger several times but Sora seemed to gain an understanding because instead of trying to dodge he whacked the bullets aside. Pyrrha was shocked to feel one bullet hit her shoulder and another get dangerously close to her face.

Using that as a cue, Pyrrha once again shifted Milo but into its Javelin form ("Oh come on!" Sora exclaimed). Needing both hands, she placed Akoúo̱ on her back and was ready to begin again.

* * *

Ruby couldn't decide who to cheer on. _Sora definitely has some moves but it looks like Pyrrha still has slightly more Aura. Can't say I'm surprised though._ "Don't give up Sora! Fight well Pyrrha!" Ruby exclaimed.

"They certainly seem to be enjoying themselves," Weiss said. Pyrrha jumped away from Sora and shifted her sword into a rifle then, "Looks like Pyrrha decided for the long range approach."

"How do you think he'll handle it?" Blake asked. That answer came fast as Sora took half a clip into his chest and lost half his Aura. "Not well apparently…" Blake amended.

"That's gonna hurt his chances," Sun nodded beside her.

Sora started to knock the next round of bullets aside and Ruby applauded when he was able to send a few Pyrrha's way. _Looks like that strategy won't work for Pyrrha anymore...what's she gonna do next?_

Pyrrha shifted her gun into a javelin and got into a ready stance once more. Ruby heard Sora yell out in exasperation but he charged her nonetheless. He ran at Pyrrha with keyblade pointing straight and next to his head but was forced to dodge and duck as Pyrrha stabbed out experimentally.

Pyrrha once again landed a blow by sweeping Sora's legs and Ruby thought that might be the end of the match right there but Sora used his left hand to push off the ground and right himself. Pyrrha went for an overhead strike before Sora could properly balance himself but he immediately twisted on one foot and stepped on Milo.

Pyrrha's shocked face was clear and she made to let go so as to not get trapped but by then Sora had already used it to leap up into the air. Spinning his keyblade into a backhanded position, Sora smashed his keyblade into Pyrrha's side and followed it up with a series of blows. He finished his combo with a massive two handed swing into her stomach that sent Pyrrha flying away.

Ruby looked to JNPR and noticed a slightly concerned look on Jaune and Ren but Nora seemed to be having a blast. "You got this Pyrrha!" Nora yelled.

Ruby wasn't quite so sure who would win now that she looked at the Aura levels. Sora's was yellow but still at roughly 60% while Pyrrha had been knocked down to about 40. _That last exchange knocked out like more than half of Pyrrha's Aura! Sora sure hits hard…_

"Dang! You hardly see Pyrrha get knocked down so low" Yang said. "I kind of want to fight him now."

Pyrrha recovered from the hit and seemed to be contemplating how to pick her weapon back up so she was surprised then to see Sora pick it up and hurl it at her with a promise of pain. Her training kicked in though and she dodged to the side only to grab the hurling javelin out of the air.

Ruby was having so much fun at this point. _Oh man! Sora and Pyrrha are so great to watch._ "You go guys!" She yelled out. _Let's see what happens now._

* * *

Pyrrha's side still hurt where Sora hit her. _My Aura stopped any major damage but I'm ashamed to have been caught of guard like that._ Looking at Sora's face, she saw the look of determination and fierce smile she no doubt shared as well. _Yang, Weiss, and Nora are the only ones to have ever given me this much trouble. I'm gonna have to try redirecting his Key with my semblance if I'm gonna stand a better chance of winning._

Gritting her teeth, Pyrrha shifted Milo into its sword form and charged Sora once more. Sora ran to her as well, and both struck at the same time. For what felt like an eternity, Sora and Pyrrha kept meeting each other's strikes head on but neither lost ground. Left and Right, keyblade met sword and shield in a constant battle for supremacy that seemed to have no end but was still causing damage as their slowly dropping Aura levels indicated.

Pyrrha's sword caught Sora under his armpit but he recovered quickly and pushed it aside to strike towards her side. Suddenly, Pyrrha crouched lower and blocked the strike with her arm guard to create the magnetic hold she wanted. _Sora doesn't know about my semblance so I'll just have to make small corrections to not give myself away._

Sora, none the wiser, swung his keyblade again at Pyrrha's shoulder and that's when something went wrong. Pyrrha was relying on her semblance to nudge Sora's key enough to make him overswing and lose balance but right when she tried to push, her hold disappeared. The shock of it made her hesitate and she was rewarded with a follow up swing to the stomach that knocked her into the air. Sora jumped up with her and delivered a hard swing to her back that slammed Pyrrha down into the stage.

"That will be all!" Ms. Goodwitch called out. "The winner is Sora."

The crowd was pretty quiet but they slowly started to send compliments and muted applause their way. Soon the whole room was filled with noise and the loudest among them was Sun celebrating his victory in the betting department-although one quick look at Ms. Goodwitch and he quieted down quite a bit.

Feeling all kinds of pain, Pyrrha looked to the Aura screen levels and saw she was firmly in the red at 5% while Sora was a low yellow 30. She saw a hand near her face and looked up to see Sora smiling down at her. "You're really strong Pyrrha!" Sora said. "You had me good for a while there."

Taking his hand and pulling herself up Pyrrha answered, "I quite enjoyed our fight! It's been awhile since I lost." She saw Sora reach into one of his many pockets and pull out two small vials filled with a clear green liquid.

"Glynda said I couldn't use these during the match but if you drink it you'll feel much better," Sora explained.

She was a little apprehensive to do so as flashbacks of Ren's juice ran in her mind but Pyrrha trusted Sora wasn't about to poison her and took a sip. It tasted kind of like a mixture of various fruits and Pyrrha readily gulped the rest after. Immediately, her aches and pains subsided and she was left only feeling a little sore. She looked down at her scroll's aura meter and was surprised it had risen back to Yellow.

"What is this stuff and how come I've never heard of it?" Pyrrha asked.

"It's a potion. Do you guys not have them here?" Sora answered. "They're pretty common where I'm from."

"No...how do you make it?" Pyrrha asked.

"There's a way to synthesize them that the moogles showed me." Sora answered. "I just need the right ingredients."

 _Moogles? Wha-_ Pyrrha's thought's were interrupted when Ms. Goodwitch walked over to the two of them with a small smile on her face. "Well fought you two. I hope you realized your mistake Ms. Nikos. Hesitance can be a killer on any battlefield so I advise not to let it happen too much. Sora, your skills are in close range are good but you're going to have to come up with ways to deal with longer distance fighters."

Pyrrha heard Sora mutter something about magic under his breath but she looked to Ms. Goodwitch and smiled at her. "Thank you professor! I'll be sure to remember that," Pyrrha said.

"I guess we'll be seeing each other Glynda." Sora said.

"Oh yes, you'll be seeing quite a lot of me while everyone else is on break young man," Ms. Goodwitch said to Sora. "I have lots of training exercises in mind that you'll be doing daily if you want to succeed in my class. The details for when you'll be seeing me will be forwarded to your scroll."

Sora didn't look particularly enthused by that but he nodded in understanding. "I'll do my best," he said.

Team RWBY and JNPR had made it over to the three of them by then and showered Sora and Pyrrha with compliments.

"You were so awesome Sora!" Ruby gushed. "Who taught you all those moves?"

"I sort of just picked them up...I used to travel a bunch and fought a lot of strong enemies on the way," Sora answered.

"You can tell us all about it at the party today!" Nora said. "A deal's a deal. You're now the guest of Honor!"

Sora's huge smile shone through and Yang gave his hair a nice ruffle. "I think you're alright Sora," Yang said with a smile. "You can hang out with us any time."

The group devolved into a multitude of laughs and conversations as they made their way out of the arena and Pyrrha felt great at the sight. Siding up next to Jaune, Pyrrha listened to his words of encouragement and how she'd definitely do better next time. _I'm so glad I found myself among all these great friends. I wish it could last forever..._

* * *

It couldn't take forever to find Sora could it? Donald was seriously starting to think that was the case after meeting up with the Twilight Town gang again. They hadn't seen him either and Donald and Goofy had already searched every inch of the town. _First we had to find the King and Riku; now Sora is the one missing!_ Letting out a sigh and sparing a glance at Goofy he asked, "Guess we gotta go to that new world?"

"I'm sure we'll find him there," Goofy said. "It's the only place left!"

They were currently walking out of the twilight trio's usual hangout spot and finding a good place to warp back to the Gummi ship when they noticed someone with a Black Coat waiting for them in the alley.

"A shame, You two look so lost without your friend Sora to lead you," the mysterious man said. They had their hood up so Donald and Goofy couldn't see their face but the voice sounded awfully familiar.

"What are you doing here! What do you want with Sora!" Donald squawked out.

"As if I'd tell you two bozos," the man said. "Let's just say I have a special interest in the brat."

Goofy seemed to recognize the voice for he said, "Wait a minute...you're that Xigbar fella ain't ya."

A laugh emanated from the now identified Xigbar as he pulled his hood down and said, "You got me, But the names Braig now." He still looked the same as always but his eyes were a brighter gold than before. His imperious smirk served only to anger Donald and Goofy further.

Donald's temper flared and he screamed, "I don't care what your name is! Where's Sora?"

"I'm not tellin.' Don't you worry though...I'm sure he's in good hands," Braig said smiling enigmatically.

Donald and Goofy made to attack but Braig opened a portal and passed through it before they had the chance to reach him. The path closed just as fast as it opened and Donald was left fuming.

"Come on," Donald said. "We got to find Sora before Organization 13 can." Noticing Goofy's nod, Donald activated the spell that would take them up. His final thought before departing was, _We'll keep Sora safe; the organization can't have him!"_

* * *

Braig was rather smug at the moment. He watched the two idiots warp up into their precious gummi ship unaware that he was watching them. _It was a gamble to expose myself like that but now they're gonna be headed straight to another lead and are gonna be too focused on reaching Sora to notice my tail._ Truth be told, Braig had no way of knowing where Sora was or how he was doing but those two always followed him around.

With a smirk, Braig got into his own vessel and quietly zipped after them.

* * *

Yen Sid had just finished listening to Donald and Goofy's report on Twilight Town; they were talking through a crystal that displayed a hologram of the two in their Gummi Ship. He was disappointed they didn't find Sora but another matter had him far more troubled. "That Braig is a clever liar. I wouldn't put much trust in his words. He probably said they knew where Sora was to upset you," he said. "If they truly knew where Sora's location they would have doubtlessly kept it a secret and had him turned over already."

"You're right Master Yen Sid," Goofy said. "We won't let him get to us."

Donald crestfallen face showed on the hologram and he asked, "But what if it's true?" Goofy looked to Donald and it was clear he was just as worried.

"I suggest you make haste to the last world. I'll be sending help your way in case the Organization tries to attack you." Yen Sid said. "You're both strong in your own right but you're going to need a keyblade wielder to stand a chance against them."

"Who are you sending?" Goofy asked.

"I believe Riku would be best suited to finding Sora," Yen Sid said. "It'll take a while to find him but he'll make his way over to you. I assume you'll be headed to this new World for now?"

"Yes Sir," Goofy said.

"I shall leave you to it then," Yen Sid said. With that he saw Goofy and Donald give him a salute in their Gummi Ship and the video feed cut off. Yen Sid pulled out another crystal and started the spell to communicate with Riku.

Seconds later, Riku's face showed in the air and he asked, "Is there a problem Master?"

"I'm afraid so. Sora has gone missing and it appears the organization is on his tracks." Yen Sid replied.

Riku immediately stiffened up and said, "What! Since when? How do you know?" The worry in his voice was clear and Yen Sid was quick to answer his questions.

"The reasons as to why and how are still a mystery but we've tracked Sora down to a remote world in the Realm Between," Yen Sid said. "Donald and Goofy have been investigating for a few days now and are already headed there. I want you to accompany them in case the Organization tries anything."

An unexpected third voice joined the conversation before Riku could answer, "Sora's in trouble again?"

"I'm afraid so Kairi; do not worry, we are already moving to help," Yen Sid answered.

"I want to help to," was Kairi's response.

"I'm afraid you're just not ready Kairi," Riku said. ""The organization is way tougher than the few heartless you've fought and I don't think you're ready."

"Riku is right Kairi. I'm afraid you'll only be putting yourself in more danger if you go," Yen Sid said.

Kairi's indignant face remained for a bit but she relented nonetheless. "I guess you're right...Be sure to bring back our favourite idiot back in one piece Riku. You know Sora's helpless without us," Kairi said with a small smile. She didn't look comfortable having to be left behind once more but she knew that it was important to finish her training.

"I promise to bring him back again," Riku said. "By now I'm beginning to feel like an expert in saving Sora." The easy smile on his face belied his worry but he wanted to stay confident for Kairi's sake.

 _This may be a more difficult Journey than we initially thought,_ Yen Sid thought. _I trust that their hearts will lead them in the right direction._

"So where exactly is this world Master?" Riku asked.

"I've taken some time to study it and found that it is named Remnant. It sits a little close to the Darkness and was one of the locations where the keyblade war was fought," Yen Sid began. "There's a large concentration of dark creatures but they aren't heartless exactly. They are a cousin species one could say however."

"I'll find Sora soon then," Riku said. "I sure hope he's doing alright…"

"Sora has a strong heart. That is strength enough in most cases," Yen Sid answered.

"Right I'll be on my way then," Riku said. "I'll see ya Kairi. Take advantage of Merlin's time magic, you'll get stronger faster that way."

"Good luck Riku," Kairi said.

"I will wait for you here to point you in the right direction Riku," Yen Sid said.

With that Riku nodded and the crystal communication was broken once more. _I have to trust that Mickey will be able to find and retrieve Aqua on his own. She needs our help but something tells me we can't wake Ventus without Sora or Aqua._

* * *

Sora had to admit...he was having a wonderful time at Beacon. _I've already made like 9 new friends and they're all pretty strong!_ Currently Sora was waiting in team RWBY's dorm for the farewell party and helping them set up. "Set up" made it seem like they were pulling all the stops but really it just involved moving a few tables with food and a small TV between the bunk beds. _Those beds look so unstable! Are they sure it won't fall on anyone?_

Yang and Ruby were furiously moving clothes around and into separate trunks while Sora was helping Weiss move things around. Blake and Sun had gone out to buy more sweets with the money Sun had won in the betting pool but they were going to get back soon.

"So Sora, do you want to see Crescent Rose?" Ruby asked. She looked a little nervous but continued taking. "I'm done packing and it'll be a while till everyone else shows up."

With all the excitement surrounding his fight, Sora had nearly forgotten but was glad Ruby mentioned it. He nodded for her to show him and with a few clicks Crescent Rose was out in full glory.

"Woooooaaah! And you built that!" Sora said in amazement.

Ruby continued nervously without looking at Sora, "yeah… My uncle Qrow uses a scythe and I wanted to be just as good at fighting as him. Do you really like it?"

"It's so cool!" Sora said with overwhelming excitement. _It might remind me a little of Marluxia but the color, shape, and gun looks so awesome!_

Ruby looked infinitely pleased at the praise. "I'm glad you do! I always think of weapons as extensions of ourselves so when you judge a weapon, you're also judging the wielder," she said smiling. "I'm glad you think I'm so cool. Kind of wish you brought your keyblade over to show us more of what you can do though."

"Yeah I just don't like carrying it everywhere…" Sora said. He pretended to go drop off his keyblade at his dorm so he wouldn't have to carry it around all night. _This wouldn't be a problem normally but Ozpin said I couldn't show my keyblade disappearing and reappearing._

"If you two are done now, Sora can you help me push this table near that wall," Weiss said pointing. She didn't look nearly as annoyed as her words implied, in fact, she looked pretty happy.

"Sure," Sora replied.

As they were moving the table, Blake and Sun entered the dorm with food on hand. "Sorry Ruby, they didn't have those strawberry pocky things you like but I got you some mini chocolate chip cookies," Sun said. "Also, I couldn't find actual coconuts but I did find coconut jello Sora!"

"Sweet!" Ruby and Sora said simultaneously. "Thanks Sun!"

Blake made her way over to Yang and handed a few sweets to her. "Jaune said they'd be over in a minute. Something about Nora making a little prize for Sora."

 _A prize!?_

"Just in time to," Yang began, "I just finished packing." There were two neat little suitcases on Blake's bed that Yang moved to the corner next to Ruby's own suitcase. Satisfied she turned to Sora and asked, "Hey Sora! Want to check out my gauntlets?"

"You use gauntlets!? I want to see!" Sora said. He was confused when Yang got in a boxer stance but it quickly turned to surprise when she cocked her fists back and quickly extended her arms. The shiny bracelets she wore became full on gauntlets and Sora was thoroughly impressed.

"Do you all have weapons this cool!" he exclaimed as he looked around the room.

"Well I guess we're playing 'show Sora what you got' so here's my baby" Sun said as he pulled two nunchucks from his back. He then twirled them a bit and the nunchucks stuck together into a staff taller than him. Sora's eyes continued to widen in amazement as Blake and Weiss joined in and showed Sora a bit of their own weapons.

"Is everything also gun?" Sora asked after looking over them all.

"Well...actually yes." Weiss said. "Mine doesn't shoot bullets but the dust container is inspired by revolvers." She seemed just as surprised as him for a second as if the notion that everything was a gun hybrid was new to her. "I never really thought about it before...huh."

"Well they're all really cool!" Sora said beaming. _I REALLY need to work on my keyblade transformations if I'm gonna compete with them…_

JNPR had finally made it over and were knocking on the door to be let in. Ruby walked over and opened the door to a smiling Jaune, Pyrrha, and Ren. Nora seemed to just teleport into the center of the room and exclaimed, "We're here everybody! Here you go Sora!"

She handed Sora a tiny pink crown to wear and he put it on immediately. "Thanks Nora!" Sora said. It wasn't anything special really, a simple crown made of construction paper with some glitter for jewels but it made Sora feel warm inside. Lost in a new world but already he felt he made some dependable friends that would care for him.

With Sora now with his crown on, Yang let out a small whoop and put on some soft music. The room was quickly filled with light. Dancing, laughing, and playing were immediately present throughout the room. Ruby showed off a few spins with Crescent Rose and Weiss showed her mastery of ice dust by making a tiny sculpture of team RWBY with Myrtenaster. Pyrrha, apparently, had control over magnetism and made some ball bearings spin between her hands with a huge smile. Little moments like this dotted the party and Sora quickly forgot about all his troubles.

The video game tournament was a fun competition for the teams. They played Soaring Ninja 3 to determine the best virtual fighter of the group. Sora was doing okay but was knocked out by Yang in the Second Round of fights. The last bout was between Ren and Yang that went on for five minutes but in the end, Ren's more strategic moves beat out Yang's rush.

Spin the bottle was the last games they played before going to sleep. Sora, Blake, Weiss, and Ruby were the most reluctant to play but with coaxing from the group they sat down. It was a large circle in the center of the room and Sora felt as uncomfortable as he looked. _I don't like where this is going_.

"The rules are simple." Yang started. "Everyone gets to go at least once and from then on whoever gets chosen by the bottle goes."

 _I REALLY don't like this._

"Alright Sora! You get to go first!" Yang exclaimed.

 _Oh no….Why…_

Yang made to pass the bottle to Sora but noticed his red face and a large smile grew on her face. "Why Sora… Are you perhaps nervous about kissing us? Or maybe kissing someone specifically? Is it Pyrrha? Could it be me? Hmmmmm," Yang said smugly. She was enjoying teasing Sora for what it was worth but she stopped when Sora grabbed the bottle.

"No...I'll do it! Just give me the bottle," Sora responded still red faced but with a forced smile. _I can do this…_ Taking a deep breath, Sora placed the bottle in the center and spun for his life,

For an agonizing five seconds the bottle spun and spun before it started to slow down. _I really don't want to kiss anyone. Last time I played this was when I was 8 and Riku totally cheated._ Sora didn't think about that anymore as he noticed the bottle firmly stop…pointing at himself. "Well I guess I don't have to kiss anyone," Sora said relieved.

Sun and Yang picked up on his relief and they shared an invisible nod between them. "Sorry Sora, you gotta spin again," Yang said. "House rules."

"She's right man," Sun said. "Rules are rules."

 _Awww man. Guess that was too easy…_ Giving it another spin, the bottle kept spinning before landing on Weiss. _Well it's not the first princess I've kissed…well as long as you count them kissing me on the cheek after saving them._ Sora was still feeling nervous but he reached over to Weiss and placed a small peck on her cheek. Weiss' own face darkened in embarrassment at Sora's surprisingly gentle approach but she quickly got over it.

"Man, you're no fun," Yang said. "I know Ice Queen looks fragile ("hey!"-Weiss) but you should have gone for some lip action." Yang waggled her eyebrows at that but Sora just shrunk a little more in embarrassment. "Anyway, Ruby you're next."

A tiny squeak rang next to Sora and Ruby was steadily growing as red as her cloak. She didn't say anything but took the bottle nonetheless and spun it. Once again it landed on Weiss, and a small "why me" could be heard from the heiress. Ruby went for the same chaste peck Sora did but tripped on said Sora's foot and lips crashed against one another.

Nora, Sun, and Yang let out loud OOOOO's at the sight and Ruby quickly sped behind Sora while apologizing profusely.

"N-no problem," was Weiss' response and the game continued on.

Other notable kisses were when Blake was paired with Sun and ended up with the same lip to lip action Ruby did. Of course, Yang was the one who pushed Blake's back into it and as a result she got a glare sent her way; Sun had no such complaints. Pyrrha picked Jaune after that and she placed a long kiss on his cheek that had her face red once it was over.

Yang got to her turn and ended up picking Sora; much to his dismay, she didn't go easy on him and went for the full experience. Their kiss wasn't particularly deep but Yang didn't know she was stealing Sora's first kiss. To his credit, Sora didn't faint or anything but he was feeling incredibly embarrassed. "That's how you play spin the bottle," Yang said.

Pyrrha tried to save Sora from further embarrassment by saying, "Well I think we've all had enough for one day. Most of us have to wake up early to catch our flights anyway so I think we should turn in."

"I think Pyrrha's right," Jaune said. "My parents are expecting us early and you don't want my sisters mad at us for being late," he said to Ren and Nora.

Like clockwork, everyone started to disperse and Sora picked himself up. _Man, Yang sure isn't afraid of much. I better not tell the others about that kiss or they'll never let me hear the end of it._ "I'll see you tomorrow then guys!" Sora said.

A chorus of byes and see you laters sounded and Sora walked away with crown on head. _I'm gonna have a great time..._

* * *

 **And that is the end of that! You could say this is the end of Sora's introductions but there's still a lot of ground to cover before he can know the ways of Remnant. Also! Update schedule will be once a week and the chapter will be released on thursday or fri-sun. Those are the days i have free for writing.**

 **I've had some pm's over cover art and i don't have the skills to do one I would like. I always imagined Sora wearing a Beacon uniform as the cover though so if anyone reading wants to be my best friend forever and be eternally tied to this fic then send it to me!**

 **Hope you have a lovely time! Reviews are appreciated by the way! I've officially got over 1000 views and over 500 visitors (AWWWWWW YES!) but only 7 reviews at the time of writing this.**

 **Please validate me and review! I really appreciate it!**

 **Arc 1 over now. If you're still confused over when this takes place in terms of RWBY's timeline, then know it's after V1 but before V2. It's been a few days since the Blake arc and when the gang comes back, FOOD FIGHT.**

 **See you later!**


	6. Chapter 6

Homework and Storms

Roxas was starting to love spending time with Sora. _I mean...I'm always with him but I can see why everyone loves him so much._ They had met 3 times by now in Sora's dream realm and they even conjured some dream eaters to play with. At the moment, however, they were sitting on the Yuletide Hill in Halloween Town and eating Ice-Cream.

Sora wanted to see what Roxas' costume would be in Halloween Town so he asked Roxas to set up their next meeting there. Roxas didn't have the heart to tell Sora that he didn't have a costume so he spent the day coming up with one. It turned out to be just like Sora's own costume with the colors reversed but instead of a pumpkin mask, Roxas wore a nobody emblem.

"So how's my heart Roxas?" Sora asked.

"Still cracked but I'm pretty sure I fixed it enough to use magic again. It's not going to be anywhere near as powerful as it could be but I'm sure you'll get there again," Roxas answered. "It doesn't help that the darkness seems to have stripped away most of our power but it's nothing you can't gain back."

"It's alright then." Sora said. "I was mainly worried that I wouldn't be able to fight ever again really" Sora paused for a few seconds in thought but smiled regardless, "Starting from 0 is no big deal! Happens all the time."

"I don't think you should sound so happy about that Sora," Roxas said laughing. "I hope you remember some spells at least."

Lightly bumping his fist against his chest, Sora said, "Just watch! I'll be my old self in no time!"

 _Sora always was a positive one._ "I don't know how you do it Sora; how do you always stay so positive?" Roxas asked.

"I don't know...it just seems natural" Sora said. Sora's face was scrunched up in concentration for a bit and he continued. "It's getting harder to stay that way though. I'm...I'm scared Roxas. There's so much that needs to be done and I'm stuck somewhere with no way of knowing if my friends are in danger."

Roxas already knew this actually; repairing Sora's heart wasn't as easy as grabbing it and glueing it together. He had to study and empathize with all of Sora's emotions to know it's structure and then he had to figure out the most important parts of Sora's character and memories to know where they belonged. _It's easier for me to put Sora's heart back together when he's happy for some reason. I actually got most of my work done while he was hanging at that party. By the time I finish, I'll be the leading expert on Sora's psyche and emotions; well...other than Namine._

"I wouldn't worry too much about that," Roxas said. "All your friends are strong. Even Kairi is able to fight now or did you forget how she tried to save you at the Organization castle?"

Sora smiled at that, "You're right. I'll just have to keep moving forward."

Their Ice-creams were reduced to to bare sticks by then and Roxas took it as the signal that it was nearly time for Sora to get up.

"Well, it's almost time to wake up Sora. Keep training hard so you can get lots of Hero kisses like Yang gave you," Roxas said as he laughed at Sora. "Seriously, she's way bolder than anyone else I met! I'll be sure to tell Riku and Kairi."

"No no please don-" Sora then remembered Roxas didn't exactly have a way to talk with everyone outside. "Haha very funny…"

"I got you," Roxas said. "I'll see you next time Sora. Where do you want to be?"

"I'll let you pick this time Roxas. I'll see you later."

"See you Sora." Sora became more and more translucent until he faded away completely and Roxas was once again left alone. _Guess I better get back to work. Sora's doubtless going to train with Glynda but he'll get stronger faster if I do my part._

Changing the scenery back to the familiar station clock tower, Roxas sat in a meditative position and started the healing session. _I'll just have to hope Sora has some good couple of days. Otherwise this might take forever._

* * *

 _I feel lonelier than I thought I would_ , Blake thought. She was sitting by herself in the dorm reading the novel of the week. Most of her friends had left yesterday morning, leaving only her and Weiss alone for the next two weeks. Currently, Weiss had left the dorm to go train; she said she was curious as to what else Sora could do. _Not many people we hang out with right now...Well, I guess there's Sora who joins us for meals but he's been busy with Goodwitch most of the time. There's definitely something going on there. When we asked him yesterday what they do, he said training. That's why Weiss left to see why they might be training so hard._

Blake still wasn't sure how she felt about Sora just yet. She found his carefree nature and optimism endearing like Ruby but she could sense that he wasn't being completely honest with them just yet. _Everyone has their secrets Blake...you should know better than go prying._ Unfortunately, the mystery surrounding Sora didn't let her concentrate on her book; there were just too many inconsistencies with his story.

 _He says he's from some previously undiscovered Islands off Menagerie but the Faunus have scoured the entire continent for the past 100 years for stuff like that. He doesn't appear to be a faunus either so he can't just be descended from some secret voyage could he?He also knows next to nothing about Shade...all he's told when asked is that it's "shady and pretty much like Beacon." Vacuo wouldn't make anything like Beacon though…._

"I wonder what Sora's up to?" Blake said. _I'm not gonna get any more reading done that's for sure._ Blake stood up and decided to train herself. Exiting the dorm, Blake picked up Gambol Shroud from it's spot on the wall and headed to the fighting arenas. _I'll probably find them sparring in there._

It didn't take long to make her way over and soon Blake walked in on the end of a spar between Weiss and Sora. Sora was being pinned down by a hail of frost missiles and was losing aura fast. He did something that surprised her; Sora surrounded himself in a circle of fire that appeared out of nowhere and every missile that would have hit him melted before it reached him. Weiss didn't appear fazed but she switched her strategy to surrounding Sora in a group of glyphs and quickly zoomed around him, each pass accompanied by a strike.

"That will be enough!" Ms. Goodwitch called out from the sidelines. She seemed impressed by both combatants and as she was making several notes in her scroll, Ms. Goodwitch noticed Blake walk over. "Hello Ms. Belladonna, how are you today?"  
"I'm fine. I actually came down to see what Sora and Weiss were up to," Blake responded. "I didn't know Sora used dust. He seems to be pretty handy with it to."

"Your right," Glynda said. "He didn't use any in the fight with Ms. Nikos the other day because he didn't have time to replenish his supply. If you want further details you can ask him; I'm not one to talk about other fighters secrets."

Blake looked to Sora and saw him getting a small lecture from Weiss. Weiss wasn't mad; however, she just seemed to be giving him advice that he readily accepted. Blake walked over to them and caught the last bit of their conversation.

"Your control is top notch though. Just work on giving each dust attack more power with your semblance for now before we can move on to more complex constructs," Weiss said.

"Sure. Thanks Weiss, you're really good at this stuff," Sora said. Weiss preened at that and said a quick thanks; both of them noticed Blake walking their way.

"Hey Sora. So you can use dust?" Blake asked.

Sora paused for a bit but answered her easily. "Right. My semblance is being able to manipulate dust or enhance it, like I can ignite fire and make it move around at will. I'm able to use other types but for now I'm working on getting my fire abilities stronger."

"Do you place crystals in your keyblade?" Blake asked. _There doesn't appear to be any holes in it or slots to fit stuff in there._

"No, it's in my clothes but I do use my keyblade to channel my attacks." Sora said. "It's kind of like how Weiss uses her weapon." Lacing dust in clothes wasn't rare but it definitely wasn't used often. _Sora's clothes must be really special if he depends on it so much,_ Blake thought.

Ms. Goodwitch walked over and looked at them all. "I assume that you wanted to spar yourself Ms. Belladonna?" Ms. Goodwitch said while looking over Blake's gear. "We're not running full fights but we are trying separate drills to improve everyone's skills. Sora and Weiss have been working on their dust use but I'm sure we could try incorporating you into these sessions."

"Okay." Blake said. _I'm not gonna do much else anyway._

* * *

 _I'm glad Ozpin was able to come up with a pretty good story for me after I explained my magic,_ Sora thought. _I wouldn't normally care but this school could help me get stronger again and Ozpin said I had to live by his rules if I wanted to stay. Plus it's not like I have anywhere else to go._ The rules were simple but Sora was definitely not used to having a limit on his powers.

No magic outside the basic elements

All magic use outside of that may only be seen by the Ozpin and those he approves.

Do not materialize/disappear your keyblade in front of anyone.

Notify Ozpin if any secrets are found out.

Sora had to make a simplified strap on his back for the keyblade to follow that third rule; he was okay with the other's for the most part though. Sora's main worry was about just how long he could keep outside worlds a secret. _I've been horrible at keeping that secret honestly...I already threw out the don't meddle rule too._

Sora was standing on the outside of the ring when he turned his attention back to the fight between Weiss and Blake. Blake was having trouble dodging all of Weiss' attacks but she was holding ground thanks to her semblance. _Those clones of Blake are really cool...every fighter on this world has amazing abilities. They aren't technically magic though; I still don't get that._ Clones kept phasing out left and right and Sora was starting to have trouble keeping track of all of them.

 _Hunters sure are strong._ Ozpin and Glynda had been giving Sora the quick summary on how the world of Remnant worked. He still didn't understand most of it but Glynda had been tutoring him in between drills. _These people sure have it rough...they're constantly losing ground against the Grimm and I guess the faunus(?) have it worse._ In fact, Sora thought the discrimination against the faunus was stupid for the most part; He just didn't understand how having an animal trait and NIGHT vision would make you inferior.

"That's enough!" Glynda called. "Ms. Schnee, your mastery over ice dust is showing but you're too predictable when it comes to actually launching your attacks. If someone dodges, then you always counter with an attack on their right side. Ms. Belladonna, you are also very predictable. When you see an attack, your first instinct has always been to dodge up and back but this could land you in plenty of trouble. A strong opponent will exploit that weakness easily."

The girls sent their thanks to Glynda and moved over to the edge of the ring with Sora. "You guys did great!" Sora told them with a wide smile. "I could barely keep up with your clones Blake but Weiss you're able to put out so much power!" They each gave Sora a nod of appreciation as they stood next to him.

"I believe we'll have time for one more drill before I'll have to ask you ladies to leave me and Sora alone for a bit," Glynda said. "This time, all three of you will be participating in a 2 vs 1 strategy duel. The rules are simple: Sora, you can only use dust attacks; Weiss, the same goes for you; Blake, your job is to find an opening in Sora's defenses and tag him but you can only use your weapon to block attacks. This might seem unfair but I assure you Sora is more than capable of keeping you two at bay."

"How do I win?" Sora asked.

"Hold off their attacks for two more than two minutes," Glynda said. "Remember to use the other dust types Sora." Glynda nodded to the girls and they took up positions opposite Sora. He in turn got into his combat stance. "Begin!"

Weiss immediately stuck her rapier into the ground and sent a wave of ice toward Sora. He didn't try to overpower it with his magic but instead dodged to the side and was rewarded with the sight of Blake reaching for his face.

Acting on instinct, Sora threw up a wall of Ice in front of him and backed away. _Haven't tried that before...glad it worked._ He didn't have much time to rest, however, as he noticed a combination of ice crystals curving around the left of his wall and a determined Blake from the right. Sora decided to go for the safer option and weave between the ice missiles to get a clear shot at Weiss.

 _If I can't take Weiss out then it'll be way easier to dodge Blake._ Screaming "Thunder!" Sora sent a torrent of lightning towards Weiss. She then maneuvered around the strike with a combination of glyphs but not before the first tendril of electricity grazed her.

Blake was getting dangerously close to Sora by then but Sora had already readied another lightning spell for her. Instead of a strike, however, Sora condensed the attack into a tiny ball of plasma; it was actually weaker than the strike he sent towards Weiss but Blake didn't know that.

The next thirty seconds were full of mad dashes and flying elements but no one was gaining any ground yet. Blake and Weiss stopped halfway through an attack and gathered on the opposite side of Sora and shared a few quick words. _I don't like this…_ Suddenly, Blake made like a mad hellcat and sprinted at Sora with weapons drawn. Sora sent a few fireballs her way but those were battered aside by Blake easily enough but right when she reached a hand out to tag him, Sora rolled behind her.

Sora had made a grave mistake without knowing it. What Sora should have been doing was distracting each huntress with a scheme in mind that prevented any teamwork but he instead was reacting to the "separate" attacks. While Sora was busy tending to Blake, Weiss had crept a smaller sheet of ice towards him that snapped around his ankles once it got close enough. Soon his entire bottom half was frozen under Weiss constant pressure and Blake was able to calmly walk over to him and tag.

 _Awww man, guess I can't always win…_

* * *

Donald and Goofy were stuck outside of Remnant.

"Wasn't Master Yen Sid's magic supposed to help us get through?" Donald asked.

"It should have but something's blocking us." Goofy replied.

They had been trying to land on Remnant for about five minutes but each attempt was met with failure. It wasn't hard to maintain orbit but every time they tried to land it was like trying to move through syrup until they eventually just hit a wall.

"You think Riku might be able to get us through?" Goofy asked.

"I hope so…" Donald said.

They waited a while but soon their communication crystal started to pulse with a soft blue light. Goofy tapped it a few times and the image of Riku in a snowy forest clearing came up.

"Hey guys, where are you?" Riku asked.

In unison Donald and Goofy replied, "We're stuck."

"What do you mean stuck? What happened?" Riku asked.

"Well whenever we try to land, it's like something pushes us back until we can't move anymore." Goofy said. "Do you think you can help us?"

"Maybe...I'm gonna try to open a path for you so just wait a bit," Riku said.

The image cut out and Donald and Goofy were left by themselves once more for a while. Suddenly, a bright purple blue portal opened up inside the gummi ship and Riku stepped out into the gummi ship.

"Come on," Riku said.

Riku stepped back into the portal along with Donald and Goofy. Upon stepping out, they were greeted with a large pure white clearing. The trees had lost all their leaves long ago with only a few containing one or two orange leaves; snow covered everything in soft layers and the air smelled clean.

"Were you guys waiting long up there?" Riku asked. Riku was staring at the trees for any nearby life. He see anything wrong with the place but the stench of darkness was definitely present in the area.

A few loud quacks greeted Riku's ears but he wasn't able to understand them. "I'm sorry Donald can you repeat that?" Riku asked.

Turning towards the duo, Riku was surprised to see a completely average looking duck and dog staring back at him. He only knew it was Donald and Goofy because of the clothes they were wearing. Donald was a smaller pure white duck and his wings no longer formed strong enough feathers to grasp items. Goofy was the most obvious change with him reverting to a four legged stance and taking on a dark black bloodhound form.

"Uh..you guys look...different," Riku said.

Some panicked barks and quacking was the answer but Riku for the life of him couldn't really understand their but he did understand their emotions. Donald was going on a particularly long rant.

'Guys! Calm down. I can't really understand you but we can't really worry about that right now. Something tells me this is place isn't as friendly as it looks and this isn't the first time your forms have changed to suit a world's laws. Come on, the sooner we find Sora, the faster we can get out of here."

Unknown to the search party, however, Braig had been spying on the trio and quietly slipped away into the darkness.

* * *

Glynda was overall impressed with her students performances. After his initial defeat, Sora picked up on the strategies that Blake and Weiss were employing and the matches became far closer. The score ended in favor of the girls 2 to 1. _Sora adjusts well to pressure and unknowns if this exercise is anything to go by. I have a hunch that his entire fighting style revolves around adaptability and reactions; it's almost like he's never had formal training._

Pushing those thoughts aside, Glynda spoke to the group in front of her. "Alright students I believe that is enough," Glynda began. "Excellent work all around but your defensives could use work. There were enough openings that any experienced huntsman could easily take advantage of; the Vytal festival will show up sooner than you think and you need to be prepared."

"Of course Ms. Goodwitch," Weiss said. "We'll be sure to continue training on that."

"Alright then, ladies please go out and enjoy the rest of your day while I stay back with Sora for a bit," Glynda said.

They both nodded and Glynda turned her attention back to Sora. "Well Sora, how are you feeling."

"Pretty exhausted…They sure are strong." Sora said. "Also, what's the Vytal festival?"

"The history of that is rather long," Glynda said sighing. "The short version is that about 100 years ago Remnant was locked in a perpetual state of war that threatened to wipe out humanity. I'm assuming your islands were separate from the chaos so you wouldn't really know but they were truly dark times. Eventually, things were settled on the small island of Vytal where peace was finally brokered and we celebrate that treaty every year. You can ask Professor Oobleck if you want to know more."

"Oh. What do you guys do" Sora asked.

"Well, each kingdom and culture has their own way of celebrating but the main event is seen all over the world: the Vytal Festival Tournament," Glynda said. "Each Huntsman academy sends its best students to participate and the winner wins a large cash prize along with prestige to their school." Taking a prouder posture and with a small smile Glynda continued, "Beacon Academy has the highest win rate at 35% I might add."

"Wow, can I enter!?" Sora asked excitedly.

"I'm afraid not. You might be an official student of Beacon but unfortunately you don't actually have a team present," Glynda said. "I'm rather disappointed myself actually, you'd be a great contender for Beacon if you keep up your growth rate." _Shame._ "But on to the real reason I wanted to talk to you. Your magic abilities are rather strong even if they aren't elegant and your keyblade skills are no doubt exemplary. Your understanding of the kingdoms and their functions are severely lacking, however, so I'm going to be assigning you some history homework on topics you definitely need to know about. I would have told you yesterday but I hadn't come up with the lesson plan yet."

Sora slumped a little at the mention of homework. Truth be told, he didn't do much homework even when he went to school on the islands but the look on Glynda's face quickly erased any hesitance.

"It's mainly reading but I want a report on what you've learned after each assignment. It won't do to have a student of Beacon not understand how the world works; make no mistake Sora, you represent Beacon now and Beacon only accepts the best in both body AND mind."

Sora seemed to understand if his enthusiasm was anything to go by, "Don't worry Glynda, I'll do my best."

"Good, in the meantime, be sure to stick by Ozpin's rules and details of your first assignment will be forwarded to your scroll by this evening. You're free to go and enjoy the rest of your day but I expect you back here tomorrow morning."

Sora gave her a short wave and made his way out of the arena. _That boy really reminds me of Ms. Rose sometimes. So much potential in terms of strength and skill but not enough when it comes to worldly matters. Almost hopelessly naive at times but that doesn't seem to bother them. I must admit, however, Sora is far more socially inclined than Ruby ever will be._

* * *

Riku was a little surprised to see a log cabin so soon. They hadn't been walking for more than five minutes when they spotted it in the distance and decided to make his way over there. _As weird as it is to have Donald and Goofy with me, if i get into trouble, I know they'll have my back at least._

Said duo was quietly bickering amongst themselves or at least Riku thought they were bickering. It was like he could almost hear their voices but something stopped him from understanding them every time. He was able to understand their intentions at the very least and it seemed everyone was in agreement to visit the house.

Reaching the door, Riku glanced at his animal companions and knocked on the door. There were noises of chairs scuffling and a quiet "who could that be" coming from inside until the sound of a clicking lock was heard.

A tall blonde woman answered the door and behind her stood an adorable red cloaked girl. They gave Riku a quick once over before the yellow one said anything. "Um are you the new mailman or something? You're much better looking than the usual guy at least," she added with a wink.

"Yang! Don't be gross," the small one said.

"Uh...no I'm not a delivery boy. My names Riku and I'm looking for my friend. I was wondering if you'd seen him." Riku said. _She sure is confident._

"Well no one besides you and your pets have passed through here recently. I'm Ruby by the way and this is my sister Yang. We can keep an eye out for whoever you're looking for if you want.," the small one said. She was answered by a few angry squawks from Donald at the word "pets" but Goofy managed to calm him down a bit. "Wow he sure is angry."

"They really don't like being called pets, this is Donald and that's Goofy," Riku said pointing to each one in turn. "I'm looking for a guy named Sora. He's got really spiky hair and makes friends with just about anything that moves."

"Oh you're a friend of Sora's!? He's over at Beacon waiting for you and the rest of your team to show up," Yang said. "Man, you must be pretty bad at directions if you ended up in Patch instead of Vale."

 _Sora what did you drag me into this time...even when you get lost it can't be a simple find and leave mission can it._ Riku didn't express those thoughts and said instead, "yeah I'm part of Sora's team. Can you guys point me in the direction of Beacon so I can find him."

An entirely new voice joined the group then, "Yang, Ruby, who's at the door? Did we finally get a new mailman who doesn't look like he's about to fall dead or something?" A muscular blonde haired man made his way to the door and looked over Riku. "You don't look like a mailman. Yang...please tell me you aren't inviting boys over to the house, you're like 6 years too early for that."

"Why do you assume it was me, it could have been Ruby," Yang said.

"No offense, but Ruby isn't a social butterfly like you," the man said. He turned over to Riku and spoke, "I'm Taiyang, please tell me my daughter didn't invite you over…"

 _Sora...you really owe me now. You're in so much trouble when I find you…_ "Your daughter didn't invite me," Riku said. "I'm just looking for a friend who's apparently at Beacon so if you could just point me in the right direction to get there then I'll get out of your way."

"Well I'm afraid you won't be getting anywhere near Beacon for a while," Taiyang said. Riku's disappointment was clear on his face and Tai began before he could argue. "I'm afraid the only safe way off Patch right now is by airship but those are going to be grounded today and most of tomorrow on account of the incoming storm. You're gonna have to find a place to stay it looks like."

 _Sure glad I always bring a few tents with me then._ "That's fine, I'll be on my way then," Riku said. Turning away from the home, Riku looked at a slightly fuming Donald and calm Goofy to make his way deeper into the forest. "We'll camp out there for the time being then guys. Sounds like Sora made it somewhere safe for the time being so we don't have to worry too bad."

Donald and Goofy replied with some short yelps but Riku was finally starting to understand them better. Just when they were about to make it into the woods though, they heard Yang call out after them.

"Riku wait!" Yang exclaimed "Are you just going to camp out in the woods or something? There's an inn the other way and there's no way your tent is going to be good enough to brave a winter storm bad enough to ground the bullheads."

"Hey kid my daughter's right," Taiyang said. "I thought you were going to town but if your plan is to camp out there why don't you come in with us."

"Besides, you can tell us some cool stories about you and Sora while your waiting!" Ruby said.

The weather was starting to get colder in a twist of irony and the house seemed to radiate warmth. Riku looked at Donald and Goofy to ask for their opinions but their looks of longing at the warm log cabin seemed to settle it. If he was on his own, then he would have just left but he didn't want Donald and Goofy to go out into something they didn't want to. He replied, "Sounds good to me."

Walking towards the cabin once more, Riku couldn't help but think he made a good decision somehow. _Following my heart may not be so bad. I just hope it works as well for me as it does for Sora._

* * *

Yang was starting to grow fond of Riku if she was being honest. A little standoffish at first like he still wasn't sure if he trusted them but after they proved they weren't about to murder him in a cabin in the woods, he relaxed. _He doesn't seem to trust easily but that's not exactly a bad quality. Sora is way more naive apparently._

They were all sitting in the living room on several chairs and sofa's. Donald and Goofy sat by Riku's side and Zwei had joined the group by now and sat in Tai's lap. Currently, Riku was telling a story about a raft that he, Sora, and a girl named Kairi worked on.

"Everyday I would go out to work on the raft and I would find Sora busy napping on the beach," Riku said. "Kairi wasn't all that much better cause she'd eventually just sit next to him and start working on her wayfinder instead."

 _Wayfinder?_

"What's a wayfinder?" Ruby asked.

"It's a star shaped charm made out of seashells," Taiyang said. "Sailors tend to carry them for good luck but it isn't all that popular. Am I right?"

"Yeah," Riku said. "How do you know that?"

"I live on an island kid," Tai said. "Patch might be a little small but we have our shared customs."

 _Wasn't Sora holding onto a wayfinder when he got here? He must be really close with Kairi if that's the case._

"Anyway, Kairi let Sora hold onto it whenever he went on a solo journey," Riku said. "Always made him promise to bring it back and everything."

"That's so romantic!" Ruby said. "I didn't know Sora had someone so special. You should feel soooo bad Yang after that spin the bottle game!"

"Spin the bottle?" Tai and Riku asked in unison. Taiyang then quickly turned his attention to Ruby, "Ruby you didn't play right!? Please tell me you didn't…"

Ruby turned as red as her cloak at a distinctive memory involving her white haired partner but said nothing else. Taiyang quickly spiraled into his own psyche and a few mutters of "my precious ruby…" could be heard.

"Right," Yang began. "While daddy dearest over there has a mini crisis, I may or may not have given Sora a strong kiss to the lips. He was just kissing people gently on the cheek so I decided to teach him how to properly play."

Riku let out a loud mirthful laugh at that and turned his attention to Yang. "I didn't think Sora would ever play spin the bottle again after I made him and Kairi kiss one time when we were young. He kept calling me a cheater because my foot 'purposely' stopped the bottle. Kairi was all for it though."

 _Sora...how much about you do we not know about? I really want to meet this Kairi now though._ "So are Kairi and Sora really that close?" Yang asked.

"I mean you would think they were dating based on how close they are but they seem to be towing that line between friendship and love," Riku said. "I mean, to be fair, I'm about as close to them as they are to each other and the subject of romance isn't something anyone's brought up."

"Romance in a team doesn't always end well," Tai suddenly said. "There's probably a good reason it hasn't come up yet but if it's going to happen just give it some time." Tai seemed to retreat into another world for a moment but he quickly remembered who surrounded him and tried to lighten the mood. "Anyway, how long ago did you talk to Sora? He might be your team leader but leaving you guys behind is pretty mean; he at least told you where he was right."

Riku sighed loudly at that and Donald and Goofy seemed to deflate a little. "He kind of got lost on the way back home. They sent me out to find him along with Donald and Goofy here; they're usually traveling with him but he didn't take them on his journey this time. Something about how he needed to do some task on his own."

"Awww don't worry little guy," Ruby said to Donald. She picked the duck up and set him on her lap. He tried to wriggle out at first but Ruby's gentle strokes on his back quickly quelled those escape attempts. "You know what, let's call Sora and give him a piece of our mind."

Yang handed Ruby her scroll but she noticed that Riku was looking at the device rather strangely. _You'd think he'd seen a scroll before but why does he look so lost?_ Before she could make some quip about it, Sora had answered the scroll with a cheery grin.

"Hey Ruby!" Sora said. "How you been?" His tone shifted to worry under Ruby's glare and continued, "Am I in trouble?"

"Yes you are!" Ruby said as she picked Donald up so that he showed on the screen. "Why don't you tell your friends where you are mister!"  
"Donald! How you been buddy?" Sora said. Donalds angry squawks filled the room but Yang for the life of her couldn't understand them. _He seems pretty angry._

Sora replied, "Well, it wasn't exactly my choice Donald! I can tell you all about it later but where are you?"

Riku walked over then and replied for him, "as strange as it is that you can understand him," (QUACK!) "we're on an Island called Patch and we'll probably get to you tomorrow evening. I'm glad your skill at making friends came in handy again otherwise we'd be out in a winter storm right now."

"Riku! I'm sure glad you're here! Wait...it's snowing where you guys are? That is so not fair!" Sora complained.

"Only you would be jealous about not being in a storm Sora. We can talk more later but for now just stay at Beacon," Riku said. "Wait for us until then."

"You got it! I already have a dorm and bed prepared for you guys anyway," Sora replied.

Riku face was scrunched a little in disbelief at that but he apparently decided not to comment on it. "Right, of course you do. SInce when did you get so resourceful?" Riku asked.

"That's a secret," Sora said smiling. He then proceeded to let out a small laugh before he noticed the look on Ruby's face. "Awww man, am I still in trouble?"

"You bet you are," Ruby said.

Yang watched on as Ruby went on a tirade about leader responsibility and keeping in touch with friends. Yang didn't really listen as she turned her attention back to Riku. "So who's stronger? You or Sora?"

"Hm," Riku hummed as she he turned to look at her. "When we were younger I was definitely the strongest but Sora soon caught up with me. It sort of alternated a bit but I'm pretty sure I'm stronger right now in terms of physical strength. Sora still has a stronger heart though."

 _I don't really see what his heart has to do with it...but Riku definitely looks tougher than Sora. He's got enough muscle to rival dad for crying out loud._ "We should spar sometime then. I'd love to get a crack at someone as strong as Sora. He already beat one of the best fighters at the school."

"Maybe later," Riku yawned loudly then. "If it's alright with you guys I'd like to sleep now. We've been travelling for a while and it'd be nice to get some sleep."

Goofy had already fallen asleep and Donald was was starting to doze off himself. He probably would be asleep himself if it wasn't for Ruby carrying him around and randomly turning every now and then. _Looks like Ruby's calming down._

"So you promise to talk more with your team." Ruby said.

"I promise," a more subdued Sora said. "I'll see you guys later okay."

Yang and Ruby said bye as Riku walked over to them. "Be sure to do something useful with your time at least," he said.

"Hey, I'm training everyday! Soon I'll definitely be stronger than you," Sora said confidently.

"We'll see. Take care of yourself," Riku said.

The scroll feed cut out and Taiyang started to dig into the closet for some blankets. Ruby quickly said some goodnights and after putting Donald down on the couch, she sped off to her room. Tai handed Riku the blankets and made his way over to his room after saying goodnight.

"You sure are a nice family," Riku said.

"Yeah...we weren't always this functional but it's good to have a home," Yang said. She debated saying more but quickly stamped down that idea. _You don't go around telling strangers your life story no matter how good looking they might be._ "So do you want a goodnight kiss or something or should I leave."

Riku looked confused for a few seconds but he didn't look overly embarrassed. "I'm fine. Thanks for offering a place to stay though. That storm is getting pretty bad."

The snow outside wasn't so much falling but it was whipping past the windows with force. The loud howl of the wind could be heard faintly but the cabin was built with some decent insulation.

"Alright then, goodnight Riku. I'll see you tomorrow," Yang said.

She heard Riku say goodnight as she walked up the stairs to her room. _Sora and Riku...where do they bring up boys as nice as them?_

* * *

 **My Friends! I'm back after my absent week. Long story short, car was broken into and I had a lot to deal with that weekend so I didn't release anything.**

 **I hope this chapter makes up for it though.**

 **Review and all that jazz to quench my thirst!**

 **PS: Finals are coming up soon so there may be an odd week or two where I don't post anything. My classes aren't terribly hard but I don't want to fail na'mean?**


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